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Not everyone in EU drew right conclusions from history of relations with Belarus, Lithuanian foreign minister says

Not everyone in the European Union drew the right conclusions from the warming of relations with Belarus in 2008 and their deterioration after the country`s 2010 presidential election, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius said in an interview with BelaPAN on July 25, the second day of his two-day visit to Minsk.

"Personally I think that not everyone learned this lesson," he said. "And what is happening now in Ukraine partially depends on the fact that such lessons were not learned. This is the reality, one can hardly change it but mistakes need to be avoided in the future."

Mr. Linkevicius, who served as ambassador to Belarus between July and December 2012, described next year`s presidential election in Belarus as a "big test" for relations between Minsk and Brussels.

The minister warned that the entire election campaign, including electioneering opportunities, would be examined by the EU for compliance with international standards.

Asked whether the EU could remove some Belarusians from its blacklist this October, Mr. Linkevicius said, "It`s difficult for me to guess. I think everything depends on the general atmosphere. We need to see considerable and irrevocable actions that would show that the problem has not only been solved but that it would never appear again. In this case one may think of certain changes."

The EU devotes more attention to the situation in Ukraine at present, he acknowledged. "Places where conflicts break out, blood is spilled, tragedy happens always attract more attention from the international community. I could agree partially that the Ukraine issue is now top of the agenda, but you don`t want Belarus to be the priority at such a cost, do you?" he said.

Mr. Linkevicius stressed that the situation in Ukraine was important to the entire world, which he said was proved by last week`s crash of the Malaysian Airlines` Boeing over the Donetsk province.

"This is a reminder that we should carefully and attentively treat the events in order to avoid such precedents in the future," he said, adding that "attempts at violating sovereignty, territorial integrity, imposing some rules on one`s neighbors lead to such tragedies."