President Gitanas Nausėda has stripped Russian conductor Yuri Bashmet of a Lithuanian state award.
The president signed a decree on Wednesday removing the Russian cultural figure from the list of award recipients.
Bashmet was awarded the Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas, Fourth Class, by then-President Valdas Adamkus in 1999.
According to Nausėda’s decree, the state honour was revoked for “discrediting the name of the recipient of the award”.
The conductor has publicly expressed support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“Yuri Bashmet is an active supporter of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. That says it all,” Tomas Beržinskas, a presidential adviser, told BNS.
LRT English
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