Lithuania moves to pull out of cross-border cooperation agreement with Belarus

December 28, BPN. Lithuania’s interior ministry has asked the government to approve a resolution to denounce a cross-border cooperation agreement with Belarus, Delfi reported.

Lithuania’s withdrawal would be an expression of political will, said Deputy Interior Minister Arnoldas Abromavičius.

The cooperation agreement is ambiguous given Belarusian authorities’ role in the illegal migration crisis and their support of Russia’s war on Ukraine, he noted.

Belarus also ignored Lithuania’s requests for humanitarian assistance to illegal migrants and keeps pushing them across the border to Lithuania, Abromavičius said. The agreement could be reinstated after democratic changes in Belarus, he added.

The 2006 cross-border cooperation agreement facilitates the movement of vehicles and passengers across the shared border, the exchange of information, and assistance in natural and man-made disasters.

The EU discontinued its programs of cross-border cooperation with Belarus following the contested 2020 presidential election. Lithuania also suspended payments under cross-border projects to its Belarusian partners.