Senator John McCain with Vilnius University rector Benediktas Juodka and President Dalia Grybauskaite.
In Vilnius Republican US Senator John McCain urged the international community to keep up a wave of pressure on authorities in Ukraine and Belarus for persecuting opposition figures.

Describing recent photos of Ukraine's jailed ex-premier Yulia Tymoshenko "disturbing, troubling", McCain said Kiev could not hope for closer ties with the West before it ends the "selective prosecution of its political opponents and unconditionally pardons opposition leaders."

"The current government seeks to move the country closer to Europe, at the same time as it pressures and destroys political opposition within Ukraine," McCain said during a visit to the ex-Soviet Baltic EU state of Lithuania.

"Ultimately, however, it must choose between these two contradictory paths," he said in a speech at Vilnius University, ahead of Thursday's international democracy conference.
McCain also said applying "more pressure than ever" has borne fruit in another ex-Soviet country, Belarus, which last month freed opposition figures Andrei Sannikov and Dmitry Bondarenko.

McCain however warned "now it's not the time to reduce the pressure on (President Alexander) Lukashenko," often dubbed "Europe's last dictator" by Western leaders.

"The United States and the EU must continue to strengthen our common front in pressuring Lukashenko to release political prisoners and hold free and fair elections," he said.