Vilnius has rejected Moscow’s accusations of desecrating Soviet soldiers’ remains in Lithuania, calling them false and absurd.
"The repeated accusations against our country regarding the reburial of Soviet Union soldiers who died in Lithuania during World War II are false and absurd," the foreign ministry said in a statement to BNS.
Moscow accused Lithuania of desecrating the memory of Soviet troops after the Elektrėnai municipality decided to rebury the remains of over 100 World War Two soldiers located in Vievis, central Lithuania. The Russian foreign ministry also lodged a formal protest with a Lithuanian diplomat.
"The Russian Federation is deliberately distorting the real situation in an attempt to create a negative image of Lithuania and thus justify its own legal actions against Lithuania, which are detached from reality," the ministry said.
Earlier, Lithuania exhumed Soviet remains buried in Šiauliai, relocating them following archaeological investigations.
The ministry cited assessments by the Genocide and Resistance Research Centre of Lithuania, which said secondary burials in the centres of Šiauliai and Vievis were linked to the promotion of the Great Patriotic War narrative, established by the Soviet Union and continued by modern Russia.
"In view of this, following necessary archaeological research, the remains of Soviet Union soldiers are being moved from city centres and will be respectfully reburied in cemeteries within the same towns," the ministry said.
The foreign ministry also said Lithuanian diplomat Jolanta Tubaitė reminded Moscow of Lithuanian cultural heritage sites that Vilnius says are being destroyed in Russia. These include a memorial to Mecislovas Reinys, a monument to political prisoners and deportees in Tomsk and a monument to Kristijonas Donelaitis, and called for their restoration.
Moscow maintains that the desecration of cemeteries or burial sites is a crime under Russian law and has hinted at possible criminal prosecution of Lithuanian citizens. The ministry called this a hypocritical stance, saying Russia itself is violating international legal norms and principles.
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