VILNIUS - Russian Ambassador to Lithuania Boris Cepov lashed out at the national daily Lietuvos Rytas after it ran a story alleging that the Russian Foreign Ministry had considered recalling him to Moscow.
Boris Cepov called the newspaper "yellow press" in an angry letter to its editor-in-chief, Gedvydas Vainauskas, after it published the article.
"Your newspaper has been spreading disinformation and lies for a long time now, which is why the people of Lithuania deservedly call it a symbol of the yellow press. Little can be said about its method of respecting the honor and dignity of foreign citizens and their diplomatic representatives," Cepov said in the letter.
"Just think, Mr. Editor, about the place your country will take in the united Europe, when you and your like do not learn, and will not learn, to be honorable in the civilized international community, which is what the previous publication demonstrates," it continued.
The article alleged that the Russian Foreign Ministry was considering recalling the ambassador because he had reported misleading information regarding President Valdas Adamkus' feelings toward the May 9 Victory Day ceremony.
The daily, quoting anonymous sources from Russia's Foreign Ministry, said that the president's decision not to attend the ceremony was opposite to what the ministry had expected.
The Foreign Ministry's reports to the Kremlin had been predominantly based on Cepov's personal guarantees that Adamkus would attend the ceremony.
Following Adamkus' decision not to attend, which was widely reported in the international media, the article said that senior foreign ministry figures had interpreted Cepov's behavior as risky because he had attempted to build up an image of himself as an expert in Lithuanian politics.
The Russian news agency Interfax, also quoting an off-the-record source at the Russian Foreign Ministry, said that there were no plans to recall Cepov from Vilnius.
Lietuvos Rytas, for its part, regarded the reaction to the article as the best evaluation of its work throughout its 15-year history.
"The entire editorial staff is proud that the Russian ambassador, who lost diplomatic face when he descended to the level of a bazaar merchant, blames Lietuvos Rytas for being a newspaper that protects Lithuania's honor and dignity. This proves that Lietuvos Rytas is on the right track," said Rimvydas Valatka, the paper's deputy editor.
Valatka added that the ambassador's letter would be made public and would likely embellish the walls of the newspaper's cafeteria.
Although the Lithuanian media are frequently critical of foreign diplomats, the sheer ferocity of Cepov's tirade against Lietuvos Rytas is unprecedented.
Lithuania's Foreign Minister Antanas Valionis said that Cepov's letter was an improper course of action for such a high-ranking diplomat. "I think that Russian diplomats should give more attention to the freedom of the press in their country, and not say what the Lithuanian press should write about," Valionis said.
Valionis also expressed his concern that the Russian Foreign Ministry had published misleading interpretations of his conversation with Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov.
The Russian Foreign Ministry's Web site reported on Valionis' telephone conversation with Lavrov, saying that: "Indignation was expressed to the Lithuanian minister over an unfriendly campaign against Russia and its diplomats which was recently mounted in Lithuania at the initiative of some of the country's leaders."
The same press release said that Lavrov had urged Valionis "to stop adding fuel to the fire of mutual relations and focus on the settlement of topical issues."
But according to Valionis, the Russian foreign minister had said that Russia was sorry that the Lithuanian president would not come to Moscow but respected his decision. He added that he was shocked by this wildly different version of events, and suggested that Russian diplomacy was working on two fronts.
"I am surprised that our conversation and the Russian Foreign Ministry's press release are as different as day and night. The differences between Lavrov's statements and the Russian Foreign Ministry's press release reveal a certain duality in Russian diplomacy," he said. "But I am inclined to believe what I heard from the Russian minister rather than what I read in the Russian Foreign Ministry's press release."
