Lithuania – a trusted neighbor, not a dictator

« Lithuania needs a reliable, predicted, European neighbor, not a dictator who can play with fire and burn its own and neighbor’s house, » Cichanouskaja said on Tuesday.

The leader of the opposition, who started the Lithuanian language, said she was grateful and excited that today the red -white Belarusian national flag was fluttering alongside the building of the Seimas of Lithuania.

Belarusian opposition will celebrate Freedom Day in Vilnius on Tuesday.

The commemoration began with the raising ceremony of the Belarusian flag at the Seimas and about 100 people gathered here. It was attended by Lithuanian MPs: the first Vice -President of the Seimas Social Democrat Juozas Olekas, Chairman of the Seimas Committee on Budget and Finance Algirdas Sys, Conservatives Žygimantas Pavilionis, Emanuel Zinger, Daiva Ulbinaitė, and ambassadors in Lithuania.

Called for Belarusians to integrate

« Lithuania has always shown principle and consistency. Even 20 years ago, most European governments have been shaping with (Aliaksandro) Lukashenko regime (cooperation groups – BNS), a primary group for democratic Belarus was created in the Seimas of Lithuania, » said S. Cichanouskaja.

Lithuanian parliamentarians have adopted several resolutions that express comprehensive support for the democratic opposition of Belarusian in order to change in the neighboring state to make free and democratic elections, and all political prisoners are released.

According to the leaders of Belarusian opposition, Belarussians who stay in Lithuania not only receive help but also strengthen society.

« (They – BNS) work in business, teach in schools, help in hospitals, pay taxes, create jobs, bring more than EUR 100 million every year to the Lithuanian budget.

Photo by P. Peleckis / BNS

Litvnism – completely marginalis

S. Cichanouskaya also assured in his speech that Belarusians respect Lithuania’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and condemn any way to use history as a weapon.

« Historical revisionism, which is sometimes called Litvinism in Lithuania, is a harmful and hostile phenomenon, but in Belarusian society it is completely marginal. (…).

Auksė Ūsienė, Advisor to the Department of Strategic Communication of the Lithuanian Armed Forces, said Monday that Litvinism and other similar historical theories about the fact that there were no Lithuanian states are prepared phases of information war.

According to her, some historians and propagandists in both Russia and Belarus claim that the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (GDL) was Russian, that the Battle of Grunwald was won by the Russians and the Battle of Orsha – Belarusians. According to the military spokeswoman, even the Belarussians who fight in Aliaksandro Lukashenko regime recognize its imposed version of the story that the GDL was not Lithuanian, but by Belarusian.

At that time, Lithuanian intelligence was named Litvinism as a radical branch of Belarusian chauvinism, whose representatives deny the Baltic origin of the princes who ruled the GDL and question the dependence of Vilnius region to Lithuania.

Intelligence emphasizes that the Belarusian regime uses Litvinism to promote the confrontation between Belarussians and the population of Lithuania, and such attitudes would be a greater spread of members of the Belarusian diaspora to their integration into Lithuanian society and promote the growth of ethnic tensions.

Lithuania needs a reliable, forecast, European neighbor, not a dictator who can play with fire and burn its own and neighbor’s house.

« Our common enemy is in Minsk, it is a dictatorship that has turned Belarus into prison. Our common enemy is in Moscow, it is a Putin revanchist regime that tries to restore the empire and enslave our nations, » Cichanouskaja emphasized.

Asked to simplify the procedure for issuing foreigners’ passports

As BNS wrote, nearly 70 publicists, at the end of February, appealed to the President, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and members of the Seimas, calling for the use of Vytis or any other Lithuanian symbols both on the « passports » produced by Belarusian opposition and any other form and official.

S. Cichanouskaja, who thanked the Lithuanian Government for « support and advice » in the record, announced the Belarusian « passport » layouts with a Lithuanian Vytis -like symbol on social networks in January.

« There is a great solution in Lithuania for foreigners’ passports. Please simplify and expand its issuance practice, and our red passport we planned here will be transferred to other countries, » said the Belarusian opposition leader.

The Seimas Foreign Affairs Committee has held that such « passports » intended to be printed in Lithuania will not have legal effect in Lithuania, and the institutions will not give these documents numbers.

Congratulations to the leaders of the country

The Belarusians celebrated the Day of Freedom were also congratulated by President Gitanas Nausėda, Speaker of the Seimas Saulius Skvernelis and Prime Minister Gintautas Paluckas.

According to the President of Lithuania, Freedom Day symbolizes perseverance and determination to fight for freedom and reminds the international community, how important consistent support for those who are tirelessly seeking their fundamental rights and defending common human values.

« Lithuanians are well aware of the price of freedom and democracy. We have followed this path and feel the duty to support the people of Belarusians seeking to create a free, democratic, pluralistic society.

According to G. Nauseda, the struggle for freedom is never in vain, and the courage to defend his beliefs can inspire global changes. He has said that Lukashenko is not the legitimate head of the country.

Prime Minister Paluck noted that Lithuania believes in Belarusian freedom and strongly supports its people on the way to democracy.

« We know that freedom cannot be suppressed forever – sooner or later it overcomes any repression. Today, we once again call for illegal Belarusian leader Lukashenko to release and rehabilitate all political prisoners – people whose only » crime « is love for their country and the aspiration, » he said and to the Russian war against Ukraine.

It is planned to end the celebration of the Belarusian Freedom Day at Lukiškės Square, followed by a march towards the Belarusian Embassy.

In Belarus itself, Independence Day is not officially celebrated on March 25. The Belarusian Democratic Republic was announced this day in 1918, but it existed until the beginning of 1919, when the Bolsheviks took over the country.

Mr Lukashenko’s regime prohibits celebration of this day in Belarus and does not recognize it. In Belarus, Independence Day is celebrated July 3, when Nazi Germany withdrew from Minsk in 1944 and was occupied by the Soviet army.