Audronius Ažubalis, Lithuanian Foreign Minister: "Of what does such a sequence of events when two Molotov cocktails are thrown into the territory of the embassy remind? What if not an act of terrorism? This is a matter of honour for Belarus to investigate it, because a similar case in Russia has been investigated and those people are now doing sentence."
Two Molotov cocktails were thrown into the territory of the Lithuanian Embassy in Belarus.
Police officers put them out. “It was coincidence that we avoided damage, the consequences could have been much worse”, says ambassador Linas Linkevičius.
Lithuanian Foreign Ministry has handed a note to Belarusian ambassador over the attack against the country's embassy in Minsk.
Ambassador was asked to ascertain that Belarus, as the hosting country, ensures implementation of the provisions of the Vienna Convention in connection to safety of diplomatic missions.
The Ministry has also stated its readiness to cooperate with the Belarusian law-enforcement to solve the crime as soon as possible.
Lithuanian officials emphasize that similar attacks against the Lithuanian Embassy in Belarus were not isolated cases. Paint has been thrown into the embassy facilities in the past; an imitation explosive has been discovered in the territory.
Some parliamentarians think that the attack against the Lithuanian Embassy in Minsk was ideologically motivated. They say it could be linked with the anniversary of the Bolshevik upheaval in Russia, which part of the extremists still celebrates.
November 7 is a day-off in Belarus to mark the 1917 revolution. The incident occurred on November 6.
Soundbite (Lithuanian)
Audronius Ažubalis, Lithuanian Foreign Minister:
Of what does such a sequence of events when two Molotov cocktails are thrown into the territory of the embassy remind? What if not an act of terrorism? This is a matter of honour for Belarus to investigate it, because a similar case in Russia has been investigated and those people are now doing sentence.
Soundbite (Lithuanian)
Emanuelis Zingeris, Chairman of Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee:
We have communicated all these signals to European Union leadership and our NATO partners, because this is a terrorist attack against our territory.
Soundbite (Lithuanian)
Arvydas Anušauskas, Chairman of Parliamentary National Security and Defence Committee:
The attack took place on November 6, 10.45 p.m. Probably you can see there some ideological context if you know our view to Soviet past and its evaluation. I would not exclude the assumption that radical forces were involved.
Soundbite (Lithuanian)
Rimvydas Valatka, political reviewer:
Usually there are no coincidences where such vandal acts are concerned. Especially knowing how does the Belarusian militia and security forces work, the way they control the streets. Doubtless, there are lots of Belarus spies in the part of Minsk where Western embassies are located. So to believe, that those were only stupid guys, could be acceptable explanation in some Western state, but in Belarus that is hardly imaginable.
