Lithuania has named a condition for the renaming of Belarus. This was stated by the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the republic Gabrielus Landsbergis, reports TASS.
After a meeting with the leader of the Belarusian opposition Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, the minister pointed out that this is possible only with the consent of Belarus itself. “If Belarus expresses such a wish, we will be happy to discuss this issue,” he said.
On January 11, Tikhanovskaya said that the Lithuanian authorities should change the official name of Belarus in Lithuanian from Baltarùsija to Belarusià, so that no one has a “mistaken association with Russia.” According to the statement, such a step could serve as a sign of respect for the sovereignty of Belarus, as well as support for the linguistic and cultural identity of the Belarusian people.
Earlier on the same day, the Lithuanian authorities officially renamed Georgia, in documents in the Lithuanian language the country will be called Sakartvelo, said the chairman of the State Commission on the Lithuanian language Audris Antanaitis. “At the moment Sakartvelo (in Lithuanian Sakartvelas) is the official name,” he said. On December 21, 2020, the commission excluded the word Gruzija from the document establishing the official names of states.
On August 14, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda refused to consider his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko the legitimate head of state. According to him, Lukashenka cannot be called a legitimate president, since there are no free democratic elections in the country.