Lithuania sees Russia's UN event as 'yet another effort to spread false narrative'

  • 2021-12-23
  • BNS/TBT Staff

VILNIUS – Lithuania sees the UN Security Council's informal Arria-formula meeting that Russia is convening on Wednesday on "the situation with national minorities and the glorification of Nazism in the Baltic and Black Sea regions" as "yet another effort to spread a false narrative about neighboring countries", the Foreign Ministry said.   

"We want to make it clear that Lithuania and our partners see and understand what Russia is doing and what it is trying to achieve," Deputy Foreign Minister Mantas Adomenas said in a press release. 

"It is regrettable that Russia spreads interpretations of the human rights situation in Lithuania and neighboring countries that do not correspond to reality, but this does not in any way diminish our determination to pursue universal respect for human rights," he added.

According to Adomenas, Wednesday's event in New York is part of Moscow's efforts to use "all possible formats to divert attention from the deteriorating human rights situation in Russia and the military escalation on Ukraine's borders".

"Russia's repeated attempts to manipulate the formats of the UN Security Council for the purposes of disinformation have been condemned in a statement by like-minded members of the UN Security Council and by EU member states and other countries", the ministry said, adding that Lithuania has joined the statement, too.

The press release also says that restrictions on freedom of expression and repression of independent media and journalists, human rights defenders and non-governmental organizations continue unabated in Russia.

Based on data from the human rights organization Memorial, there are currently 426 political prisoners in Russia.