Lietuva in brief

Grybauskaite slams Putin’s accusatory speech

Speaking at the United Nations, Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite compared her Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, to the early Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. “I view the speech by President Putin as that of a leader who lives back in the 20th century,” said Grybauskaite. “A neo-Stalinist, who adores dictatorships, rebukes democracy, and accuses the West of everything.

“This is the rhetoric we heard almost 100 years ago. Nothing has changed.”

During his speech, Putin criticised the west for causing “democratic revolutions” and accused it of the “brazen destruction of national institutions and lifestyles.”

Grybauskaite unable to take Kremlin’s Middle East peace proposals seriously

Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite has said it is “very hard” to believe Moscow’s statements regarding peace initiatives in the Middle East. “If we were to talk about our neighbour [Russia], we see its peace in Eastern Ukraine today, we’ve seen it in Crimea and we’ve seen it in other parts of the world.

“It can indeed be very hard to trust a country, which is engaged in aggressive policies and, furthermore, military action and is actively involved in aggression in another country’s territory.

“It is difficult to believe the country can either bring peace, or has sincere intentions.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin gave the go-ahead for air strikes to begin in Syria on Sept. 30.