Lithuanian healthmin walks out of WHO meeting after Russia asks to speak

  • 2022-03-18
  • BNS/TBT Staff

VILNIUS – Lithuanian Health Minister Arunas Dulkys walked out of the room during the World Health Organization meeting in Istanbul in protest after Russia requested to speak, which was unplanned.

"Yesterday, ministers made addresses. I left the room in solidarity with Ukraine when Russia asked to speak," Dulkys told BNS on Friday, adding that representatives of other countries did not leave the room.

According to Dulkys, the meeting agenda did not include an address by the Russian deputy health minister.

Istanbul is hosting a meeting on migrant health, organized by the WHO Regional Office for Europe, on March 16-18. However, Dulkys said, the meeting mostly focused on Russia's war in Ukraine.

"Practically, the event became almost exclusively about Ukraine. At least the European countries talked exclusively about Ukraine", the Lithuanian health minister said.

Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in late February.