VILNIUS - Russian Ambassador Boris Cepov launched a controversial verbal assault again last week, calling Lithuanians "scandal-living brawlers" and drawing the scorn of the country's leadership.
Speaking to the Respublika newspaper, Cepov, who early in March had attacked the Lietuvos Rytas daily, went all-out in his criticism of Lithuania and Lithuanians.
"I have a feeling that this is not a country but a rallying place for scandal-living brawlers. People are running around looking for compromising material, and when they find it they wait for the right moment to publicize it. Then everyone is dirty and happy that nobody is clean," he said.
"Many decisions are followed by scandals and a bad atmosphere 's someone has eavesdropped, or squealed on someone else," the diplomat said.
Cepov suggested that Lithuanians were afflicted with paranoia, or even Russophobia. "The hand of Moscow, the KGB spies, are always up to no good. That is a child's sickness, and only Lithuania is unable to get over it, and therefore it is Russians who are to blame for everything all the time," he said.
The comments elicited the gamut of emotions from Lithuania's leadership and political analysts.
President Valdas Adamkus said the vituperative words would not go without a response in Lithuania. "Global practice shows that such things do not pass in silence," he told the Ziniu Radijas radio station March 24. "The ambassador's idea is not fully in line with diplomatic ethics. I think the Foreign Ministry and other authorities will respond appropriately."
Edminas Bagdonas, the president's foreign policy adviser, stressed that the Russian ambassador's attack crossed the bounds of diplomatic etiquette. "The ambassador of any foreign country accredited in Lithuania should abide by the generally accepted rules of diplomatic etiquette. In this case, I believe the ambassador went over the top," he told the Baltic News Service.
Earlier Cepov was angry at a report in Lietuvos Rytas that suggested the ambassador's job was in peril after he failed to deliver on an alleged promise to his superiors in Moscow that Adamkus would attend the May 9 ceremony in Moscow. Adamkus announced in early March that he would not accept President Vladimir Putin's invitation. Cepov accused the paper of spreading disinformation and Russophobia.
At the time, Foreign Minister Antanas Valionis called Cepov's statements "politically incorrect" and suggested that his counterpart "should tend more to freedom of the press in his own country, instead of giving instructions as to what should appear in the Lithuanian press."
Meanwhile, Parliamentary Speaker Arturas Paulauskas said the true reasons behind Cepov's statements would soon be revealed.
"It is hard to image how an ambassador residing in a foreign state could be so abusive toward the people of that country," he told Lithuanian National Radio.
"It is either his personal opinion and an attempt to provoke an adequate reaction toward himself, or the central government's position that he relays. Whichever the case, such statements do nothing to improve our relations. I think that, given some time, the true reasons will soon be revealed," Paulauskas said.
Prime Minister Algirdas Brazauskas took a more disinterested stance, saying Cepov "is Russia's official 's not ours 's so let Russia assess him."
"I have no intention of becoming involved in a discussion that, in my opinion, should have no place between countries bound by a healthy neighborhood relationship," he said.
He added, however, that leaders would discuss the matter with the president to decide what, if anything, should be done.
In the opinion of prominent political scientist Raimundas Lopata, Ambassador Cepov "has missed an opportunity to keep silent." He said that a foreign ambassador should not be allowed to work in a country he disrespects in public.
Member of the opposition Liberal Centrist parliamentary faction Arminas Lydeka thinks that the "undiplomatic, sometimes rude and chauvinism-laced" statements by the Russian ambassador could be a conscious provocation.
When asked about Adamkus' decision not to go to Moscow, Cepov told Respublika that Adamkus was a welcome and treasured guest, but that it was Lithuania's independent choice to accept or to decline the invitation.
"I do not think there will be any consequences," he said, adding that the invitation provided an excellent opportunity to take a huge step forward in developing our relations. "However, we should not be much disheartened about it, as history will not end on May 9, and we will still coexist as neighbors," Cepov said.
