Lithuania Casts Doubt on U.S. Efforts to Pull Belarus from Russia
"This is how the United States is trying to separate Belarus from Russia, and I think we will have the opportunity to see whether such a policy yields real results," Gitanas Nauseda told a broadcaster on Monday. His remarks came a day after U.S. President Donald Trump announced the nomination of lawyer John Coale as special envoy to Belarus, tasked with securing the release of additional prisoners.
Despite U.S. initiatives, Nauseda questioned whether Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko could truly distance himself from Russian President Vladimir Putin, highlighting that Belarus remains “entirely dependent” on Moscow “financially and economically.”
"I am absolutely convinced that this is impossible because the ties of dependence are so close and numerous that even if he wanted to, Lukashenko could not break away from Putin," he said.
While acknowledging Washington’s humanitarian aims as “very important and commendable,” Nauseda warned that Minsk’s limited concessions may lack sincerity.
"The problem is that while some prisoners are released, hundreds of new ones are thrown into jail right away … These exchanges can go on endlessly, and the outcome will be very difficult to measure," he added.
Earlier this year, Belarus freed 52 political prisoners in a deal tied to U.S. sanctions relief, reflecting the ongoing, high-stakes tug-of-war between human rights pressures and geopolitical influence in the region.
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