The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned on Monday the chargé d’affaires of Lithuania in Moscow, Jolanta Tubaite, to express a strong protest against a project to exhume the remains of Soviet soldiers from the cemetery in the town of Vievis.
The Russian authorities have described this project as a “barbaric act” and a “desecration.” The remains of the soldiers are to be reburied in another military cemetery, and the exhumation is linked to a “de-Sovietization” law adopted in Lithuania in 2023. The Russian Ministry warned that the destruction or desecration of military graves is punishable by law in Russia.
Tensions between Russia and the Baltic states, which support Ukraine, have increased in recent years, especially in the context of discussions about Soviet monuments and the fate of Russian minorities in these states. This is not the first summoning of the Lithuanian diplomat, as she was previously called in April after the exhumation of the remains of soldiers from Siauliai.