A recent statement by Audrius Valotka, head of Lithuania’s State Language Inspectorate, on Polish signs in Vilnius District has provoked outrage from Polish Ambassador to Lithuania Konstanty Radziwiłł, LRT RADIO reports.
The State Language Inspectorate has recently ordered the authorities in Vilnius District to remove bilingual Lithuanian-Polish signs in the villages of Bieliškės and Ažulaukė. The authorities refused to do so and turned to the Administrative Disputes Commission. The latter on Monday found the State Language Inspectorate’s order unlawful and unfounded.
Taking part in the LRT RADIO discussion on Polish inscriptions on Thursday, Valotka said that it did not matter that some residents in Vilnius District wanted inscriptions in their native language.
“So what if they do? The Russians, let’s say, want Russian inscriptions in Donbas, they probably don’t want Ukrainian ones. This is an occupation zone where there has been a fierce Polonization of Lithuanians, so marking the whole territory with Polish inscriptions, I think, would lead to fierce resistance,” Valotka said.
According to the Polish Embassy, Radziwiłł has sent a letter to Culture Minister Simonas Kairys, condemning Valotka’s “irresponsible statement” about the Polish minority in Lithuania.
“I am convinced that expressions that stigmatise entire national groups and present false and antagonistic theses about the past are more in line with the canons of historiography and propaganda of the totalitarian regimes Poland and Lithuania suffered so much from in the 20th century, rather than with the norms of democratic states and friendly societies,” the Polish ambassador said.
According to him, comparing the existing situation in Vilnius District with Russia’s actions in Ukraine was inappropriate.
“I find particularly unpleasant the comparison between the situation in Vilnius District with the situation in eastern Ukraine and the attribution of alleged separatist tendencies to the inhabitants of this part of Lithuania. This is particularly inappropriate at a time when the people of Poland and Lithuania, including the Polish minority in Lithuania, are unequivocally on the side of Ukraine in the war caused by Russian aggression,” the letter reads.
The Kremlin could use such statements for propaganda purposes as the strategic relations between Lithuania and Poland grow stronger, the ambassador added.
“In the light of the above, I hope that representatives of the authorities of the Republic of Lithuania will condemn the behaviour and statements unworthy of a civil servant whose task should be to achieve public order and peace and not to incite national discord,” Radziwiłł said.
On Friday, Culture Minister Kairys said he had signed an order to assess Valotka’s statements after receiving such a request from Vilnius District Mayor Robert Duchnevič.
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