Russia announced on Thursday that it had summoned the Lithuanian charge d'affaires over the removal of a Soviet soldiers' burial site in the city of Siauliai.

The ministry said in a statement that it lodged a strong protest to Jolanta Tubaite over the actions of Lithuanian authorities, which it described as "barbaric," News.Az reports, citing foreign media.

"On April 30, Lithuania's charge d'affaires Jolanta Tubaite was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry, where a decisive protest was lodged over the barbaric actions of the Lithuanian authorities to eliminate the burial site of Red Army soldiers and officers who fell in 1944 in battles for the liberation of Lithuania from the Nazi German invaders, located in the center of Siauliai," the ministry said in a statement.

It emphasized that "such a malicious campaign to desecrate the remains of fallen soldiers," especially on the eve of World War II Victory Day, looks "extremely cynical."

"The Lithuanian side was demanded to stop this blasphemous practice."

The ministry argued that these "immoral actions" are encouraged by the Lithuanian ruling elite, "which has apparently forgotten the post-war history of its own country."

"It was necessary to refresh the interlocutor's memory that the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic, established as a result of World War II, received important territorial gains -- Vilnius and the Vilnius region, which had been held by Poland before the war, as well as Klaipeda and the Klaipeda region, which were ceded from Germany," the statement said.

The ministry stressed that "Lithuania should be grateful" for this territorial gains to the Soviet soldiers, and that "instead of gratitude, the Lithuanian authorities have stooped to mocking the ashes of the fallen heroes."

"The Lithuanian representative was also reminded that the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation provides for criminal liability for the destruction, damage, or desecration of military graves, including those located abroad," it said.

Under Lithuania’s 2023 “desovietisation” law, authorities have exhumed the remains of at least 48 Soviet soldiers from a central burial site near the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul in Siauliai. The remains are to be reburied at a designated Soviet World War II cemetery near Ginkunai.

News.Az 

By Ulviyya Salmanli