The request of Artūras Žurauskas, Lithuania’s ambassador to Azerbaijan, to be relieved of his duties, is a natural psychological reaction to possible pressure. However, what is the most important thing in this situation is not how he, but how he president, Dalia Grybauskaitė, acts, writes www.delfi.lt with reference to LRT.lt.
The request of Artūras Žurauskas, Lithuania’s ambassador to Azerbaijan, to be relieved of his duties, is a natural psychological reaction to possible pressure. However, what is the most important thing in this situation is not how he, but how he president, Dalia Grybauskaitė, acts, writes www.delfi.lt with reference to LRT.lt.
This is how one-time head of the State Security Department (SSD) and former ambassador of Lithuania to Spain Mečys Laurinkus declared on LRT’s programme ‘Vasaros Studija’.
“It would seem that the ambassador [Artūras Žurauskas – LRT.lt] doesn’t want this to escalate. Nevertheless, the persistent question is going to be ‘Are you going to resign?’. Yet the request itself is not what’s important. What’s important is will it be granted,” notes Laurininkus.
According to the former head of the SSD, when an intelligence operation is being carried out, one of the peripheral, but important goals, is getting a reaction from the country’s state institutions. “If the reaction is primitive and un-planned then the goal has been achieved. For the time-being, both the President and the Minister are calling this provocation,” emphasised Laurinkus.
Seimas Deputy Speaker Petras Auštrevicius, in turn, confirmed that that ambassador Žurauskas’s request was a hasty action. “I don’t think that it was necessary to act so quickly and in such a way. That’s tantamount to taking the blame for a special operation directed against Lithuania because I see more than provocative actions in it,” stated the member of parliament.
According to Auštrevicius, the first thing is to draw attention to the fact that an unlawful operation was carried out, that a recording was made in violation of the laws.
“It is unclear where those recordings were made – in Lithuania, Azerbaijan or Hungary. At this point in time we have more questions than answers, and any radical action seem exaggerated to me. In the meantime I suggest restraint,” the member of parliament told LRT radio on Monday.
According to the programme participants, this provocation is a warning to Lithuania’s markedly active position in the south Caucasus.
“Such domestic information is not usually made public. This case is different because it was planned with this a goal in mind. This then is a warning: the south Caucasus is not your turf. I think that this is namely the core of all this situation,” said Laurinkus.
“And so, if we take the content, it doesn’t reflect much, neither Lithuania’s ambiguous position or any behind-the-scenes games. And that won’t harm neither bilateral nor multilateral relations,” he continued.
According to Laurinkus, these actions should not surprise Lithuania, which is part of big world politics. This incident, however, can also no longer be seen as insignificant.
“To say now that this incident is insignificant is simply impossible. And the President and the Minister have made it very clear as to what it’s all about. It’s a provocation that is linked to special services,” ruled Laurinkus.
