Grybauskaite: Kremlin's blacklisting of Lithuanian officials "greatly appreciated"

  • 2015-06-02
  • George East/TBT staff, Vilnius

Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite says it is “greatly appreciated” a number of Lithuanian politicians are included on the Kremlin’s blacklist of politicians from the European Union who have been banned from entering Russia and her territories. 

On May 30, Moscow issed a list of 89 politicians from the EU who have been blacklisted from entering the Russian Federation.

The move comes in response to the economic sanctions and travel bans imposed on Russia by the West, following the Kremlin’s annexation of Crimea in March 2014, and its alleged involvement in the conflict in Eastern Ukraine. 

On June 1, Grybauskaite said “as far as I know, the list comprises of some of the most famous European politicians. 

“I can only rejoice that my Advisor on Foreign Affairs, Jovita Neliupsiene, is on the same blacklist with famous names such as former Swedish Foreign Minister, Carl Bildt.

"In fact, it is greatly appreciated.”

In addition to Neliupsiene, other blacklisted Lithuanian officials on the Kremlin's blacklist are: first president of post-1991 independent Lithuania, Vytautas Landsbergis, Liberal Member of European Parliament, Petras Austrevicius, Chairman of the Lithuanian Radio and Television Commission* Edmundas Vaitekunas; former head of the State Security Department, Gediminas Grina, Conservative Member of Parliament, Andrius Kubilius, and head of the Seimas’ Committee on National Security and Defence, MP Arturas Paulauskas.

*LRTK