Opinions & Interviews

Lithuania’s refusal to host public hearings to discuss the Belarusian nuclear power plant can be explained by political and economic reasons, Associate Professor at the Faculty of International Relations of Euroacademy (Estonia) Leonid Karabeshkin told reporters, BelTA has learnt.

“Lithuania has embarked on a policy of enhancing its energy independence and energy security. In its view, Russia’s presence in the energy sector of the region should be reduced. Thus, the nuclear power plants in Belarus and Kaliningrad run afoul of Lithuania’s policy,” the expert said.

In his view, economic competition is also involved. Despite the negative results of the referendum on the Visaginas NPP held in Lithuania last year, some conservative groups of the Lithuanian political establishment still cherish hope to construct the Visaginas NPP.

“Therefore, they seek to eliminate the competitors somehow, or at least to make it as difficult as possible for them to proceed with their projects,” Leonid Karabeshkin said.

“There is also one more reason, i.e. a psychological factor associated with the NPP failures. It seems like it will be a huge blow to Lithuania’s image if they do not impede the progress in similar projects in the neighboring states. After all, chances are that Lithuania’s plans to construct the NPP will never materialize, while Belarus will have its own NPP,” he said.

“I think there are a lot of people and companies in Lithuania that would like to make money on the Belarus’ NPP project, which is understandable. However, it is also obvious that these companies do not have the necessary political leverage to reverse the political trend that was established by the conservatives in the previous years. This trend is involuntarily proceeded by social democrats who experience constant pressure from the conservatives and have little room for maneuver,” Leonid Karabeshkin said.

Belarus invited Lithuania to hold the public hearings of the environmental impact assessment report in Ostrovets on 17 August in line with requirements of the Espoo Convention. The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection of Belarus sent the corresponding letter to the Lithuanian authorities. Belarus confirmed plans to issue free visas to all representatives of the general public of Lithuania, who are willing to take part in the hearings.

Belarus had invited representatives of the Lithuanian ministries and government agencies to participate in the public hearings on the construction of the Belarusian nuclear power plant, but none of the representatives arrived for this event, First Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection of Belarus Vitaly Kulyk said during a meeting with representatives of the Lithuanian public on 17 August.

According to the First Deputy Minister, the Belarusian side was ready to give answers to the questions of the representatives of Lithuania who arrived in Ostrovets for the public debate. He noted that the meeting was not mandatory from the point of view of the Espoo Convention. "However, Belarus is doing it," said Vitaly Kulik. He said that in violation of the recommendations of the Espoo Convention, the Lithuanian side did not post Belarus’ EAI report on their Internet resources. Belarus had to translate the document into Lithuanian and post it on the websites of the Belarusian government bodies.

Vitaly Kulik informed that Belarus is set to hold consultations with representatives of the Lithuanian Republic to discuss the implementation of the Belarusian NPP project. He added that Ukraine and Poland signaled their readiness to take part in the post-project analysis of the Belarusian nuclear power plant.