The West lacks a Belarus strategy

The daily Lietuvos Rytas bemoans the West's lack of a strategy regarding Belarus: "It's true that the last trade war between Belarus and Russia over milk has come to a temporary end and there's no sign of a new gas dispute at present. But analysts are unanimous in the view that relations between the two countries have been ruptured. The deterioration in relations between Russia and Belarus doesn't necessarily have to take on geo-political dimensions but it would not be a bad thing if Brussels, Vilnius and Washington at least worked out a strategy. However there's no sign of it, even if Lithuania is naturally fostering closer relations. … Is democratic change really the prerequisite for closer ties to the EU? This demand was not made of Azerbaijan, yet the country is still part of the EU-Eastern Partnership. For citizens of Belarus an EU visa costs 60 euros, and no one plans to change this even tough Lithuania has brought up the problem on several occasions."

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