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The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania strongly condemns the decision of the Belarusian regime to designate the websites and related social media accounts of the Central Project Management Agency (CPVA), as well as the EU-supported programmes EU4Belarus-SALT, EU4Belarus-SALT II, EU4Belarus-SALT III, and Education for Belarusians, as so-called “extremist information resources”.

In the Ministry’s assessment, this decision constitutes a politically motivated and unjustified measure aimed at restricting Belarusian citizens’ access to information on civil society support, education, mobility, and other assistance initiatives implemented by the European Union and its Member States. These programmes support representatives of Belarusian civil society, students, teachers, researchers, and independent educational initiatives. All such initiatives are implemented in accordance with the values of the European Union and the principles of international law.

The Ministry emphasises that CPVA is a Lithuanian public institution with extensive experience in managing national, EU-funded, and international programmes. Therefore, Belarus’s decision to classify CPVA’s information resources, as well as those of EU-funded programmes, as extremist should also be viewed as a biased attempt to discredit legitimate international cooperation.

Lithuania, together with the European Union, will continue to support Belarus’s democratic forces, civil society, students, the academic community, and civic initiatives. Unilateral decisions by the Belarusian regime will not alter Lithuania‘s and the European Union’s commitment to assisting the people of Belarus and ensuring their access to objective information and international support programmes.

Lithuania notes that this decision by the Belarusian regime will have no legal effect within its territory. Lithuania demands its immediate revocation and reserves the right to take political and diplomatic countermeasures against the Belarusian regime, while coordinating further steps with the institutions of the European Union and its Member States.