Russia slams Lithuania for “provocative actions” in Ukraine

A representative of Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Alexander Lukashevich, claims that Lithuania’s actions undermine peaceful regulation of the conflict in eastern Ukraine.

According to him, “candidly militaristic course of the Lithuanian government in Ukraine’s internal conflict is not a secret and arms supply by Lithuania to a warring party in Kiev raises considerable concern”.

Moreover, the diplomat has said that Russia strongly condemns “provocative actions” of the official Lithuanian government and that this allegedly harms the long-suffering Ukrainian nation and undermines important efforts of Russia, the EU and the OSCE to regulate the armed conflict in eastern Ukraine.

Peace threatened by Russian arms supply

The biggest threat to peace in Ukraine is constituted by arms supplied by Russia, not the Lithuanian calls for Ukraine to defend itself, the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday in response to Moscow’s reproaches to Vilnius over military support to Ukraine.

“The position of Lithuania, just like that of the European Union, remains consistent – Russia must de-escalate the situation and call upon the separatist groups under its influence to cease the attacks that have claimed thousands of human lives. Unfortunately, the outside aggression against Ukraine continues, and Russia deepens the wounds of war by breaching the international law and earlier agreements, as well as by arming unlawful groups that do not represent anyone,” the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry’s spokesman Kęstutis Vaškelevičius told BNS.

“On the very night of the Ukrainian peace negotiations, dozens of Russian tanks were shifted to Ukraine. The major threat to peace in Ukraine does not come from the Lithuanian calls to let Ukraine defend itself but, instead, from the weapons supplied by Russia that are currently used in the shooting of the city of Debaltseve and that have helped the killing of Ukrainian troops and civilians for many months now,” the diplomat added.