Lithuania’s Foreign Minister Discusses Chaos in Belarus

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: Tell me, what were the consequences of Ms. Tikhanovskaya fleeing and coming across to you? Did you know in advance? What was the situation there?

LINAS LINKEVICIUS, LITHUANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: I didn’t know in advance. I tried to reach yesterday evening, tried to talk directly. We have staff or embassy, it was not possible for a few hours, then I understood that she was at the Electoral Committee with her lawyer who was submitting a complaint about (INAUDIBLE) accounts. Lawyer left and she stayed. And then general (INAUDIBLE) totally spent around seven hours in this detention. So, after that, I understood that she was given some options, not too many options, basically, to flee the country or to be other sequences which were not very optimistic. She had — and has an Lithuanian national visa which allows her to stay in our country without any restrictions. Her children were already here. So, her decision was just to flee, to go to Lithuania. And the main, so to say, news, that she’s really safe and reunited with her children, and we’re looking forward for the next steps of what she will be planning to do.

AMANPOUR: Well, Foreign Minister, you know, you describe a situation, you cryptically say she was given not very great and not very many options, either to flee or to face other consequences. We know what’s happened to her husband, we know what’s happened to countless opponents and democracy activists. Her husband in is jail. And as you said, she had sent her children away because she had had threats even before the election. What does this tell you about the state of affairs in your neighboring Belarus and — well, let’s start by that. How do you assess the results of the election on Sunday?

LINKEVICIUS: Technically, we cannot call them transparent or democratic and definitely clean (ph) because of their objective reasons, you know. There were almost none when they got to the international observers. The media was also not available because they were not given accreditation. Internet was cut due to the candidates to the presidency were in custody, so to say. So, definitely, this is enough argument to say that the process is not democratic. So, the results are, as well, quite doubtful. We shouldn’t be experts to doubt these results. And basically, the government authorities took a decision to use this power against peaceful protesters, which is definitely excessive force because they were — by far, they were not aggressive. They were not smashing windows, they were not burning cars, and they definitely needed just to be listened to. So, this is disrespect to own people, to citizens, it’s something worrisome.