An eccentric Russian MP penned a bill challenging Moscow’s recognition of Lithuania’s independence in 1991. What are we to make of it?
Yevgeny Fedorov, a member of the State Duma and President Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party, submitted a draft law last week, saying that the Soviet Union State Council’s resolution “On Recognising the Independence of the Republic of Lithuania” was illegal.
Read more: Russia’s Duma mulls revoking recognition of Lithuanian independence
Vilnius should not attach too much importance to this bill, argues Maxim Milta, an analyst with the Eastern Europe Studies Centre, since Fedorov is not an influential official.
“If something like this were said by Minister Sergei Lavrov or Vladimir Putin himself, one would certainly be alarmed,” he told LRT.lt.
According to Milta, Fedorov has been in the Duma for almost 30 years, but has only drafted 68 bills, which speaks volumes about his performance.
“He is a banal, predictable personality, one of several hundred Duma deputies. By registering amendments of this kind, he is primarily signaling his potential for domestic audiences. I would see this not as a foreign policy move, but as a move in Russia’s domestic politics,” said Milta.
He pointed out that the war in Ukraine had forced Russian politicians to redistribute power positions. This may also be in preparation for the local elections in autumn.
‘Politician who belongs in a zoo’
Lithuania’s former foreign minister Linas Linkevičius says that similar statements by Russian politicians have been common enough, but none of them ever resulted in threatening messages through official channels.
“There are politicians who belong in a zoo, not in politics. Desperate attacks show that the arguments are over: all that is left in the debate is anger, hatred,” he told LRT.lt.
According to Linkevičius, who was foreign minister from 2012-2020, moves to revoke Lithuania’s independence are legally null and void.
“Such things as recognising a country cannot be revoked. [...] Legally, such things would be null and void, they would simply not be valid,” Linkevičius said.
Justinas Žilinskas, a law professor at Mykolas Romeris University in Vilnius, agrees.
“This is complete nonsense, because that decision [to recognise Lithuania’s independence] was taken by the Soviet Union. When Russia wants to, it says it is not the Soviet Union,” he pointed out.
According to Žilinskas, the best approach would be to ignore Fedorov’s bill.
“It is not worth talking about, it is a distraction from serious issues,” he said.
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