News

During the commemoration of the Day of Restoration of Lithuania’s Independence and the 300th anniversary of the establishment of the City of St Petersburg on March 14, an act of vandalism was committed against Consul General of the Republic of Lithuania in St Petersburg Gintaras Ronkaitis by splashing him with thick red-coloured liquid. The act was committed during the opening ceremony of Antanas Sutkus art photography exhibition. While the Lithuanian Consul General in St Petersburg was making a welcoming speech, a young woman pushed through the crowd of guests and walked up to him. Shouting “This is for Kaliningrad”, she started squirting red-coloured liquid towards the Consul General. The editor-in-chief of a Russian art magazine standing next to the Consul General was sprayed too. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of the Republic of Lithuania expresses its concern over this incident and hopes that the Russian authorities will soon investigate and punish the organisers of this offence and will take steps to ensure security of Lithuanian diplomats and public events held by them. This offence shows what consequences stem from irresponsible pronouncements of those Russian politicians who had been politicising technical issues of the Kaliningrad transit and purposefully building a negative image of Lithuania. In spite of this, Lithuania along with the European Union seeks a constructive and flexible solution to the issue of transit from and to the Kaliningrad Region. Actions against diplomats or diplomatic missions of our country are acquiring a regular character and threatening the normal functioning of Lithuania’s diplomatic and consular missions as well as the security of their personnel. The Lithuanian MFA hopes that the relevant institutions of Russia will seek to change the present situation by concrete measures and thus will contribute to the development of good neighbourly relations between our countries.