Lithuanian Ministry for Belarusian Affairs

The Ministry for Belarusian Affairs (Lithuanian: Lietuvos gudų reikalų ministerija) was an interwar Lithuanian ministry that functioned from December 1918 to January 1924.

The Ministry was established in December 1918 to gain support of Belarusians in international negotiations over the borders of the newly independent Lithuania. However, the Lithuanian government did not support Belarusian autonomy and the ministry effectively competed with the Rada of the Belarusian Democratic Republic. Activities of the ministry were limited to publication of several books and two periodicals and other cultural work. The ministry was officially closed in January 1924.

The first Lithuanian President Antanas Smetona wrote that, following a successful liberation of the Polish-occupied Vilnius, the constitutional capital of Lithuania, the Lithuanians planned to expand further into the Belarusian territories (the former lands of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania) and considered granting autonomy to the Belarusian territories, as requested by the Belarusian side, therefore had kept the Lithuanian Ministry for Belarusian Affairs in force, moreover, in 1924 Smetona noted that there were a lot of pro-Lithuanian sympathies among the Belarusians and criticized the closing of the ministry.

The ministry used the coat of arms of Lithuania, including in its official correspondence.

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