Category: LT media roundup

24th of May, Lithuanian media round-up

On 24th of May, Mustafa Dzhemilev, Leader of Crimean Tatars, in an interview to delfi.lt said that in an annexed peninsula Tatars are under huge pressure due to their pro-ukrainian attitude and even face various threats if they refuse to accept the citizenship of Russia.‘ (delfi.lt)

Audrius Butkevičius, signatory the of the Act of the Re-Establishment of the State of Lithuania, in an interview to the newspaper ‘Republic‘ said that ‘myth about “impossible elections” is a part of Russian propaganda, because they need to negate the legitimacy of elections, but according to operational data there’s only about 1200 terrorists in more than 42 millions citizens having Ukraine. It is a very small amount and even the heads of terrorists are complaining about lack of people, so what can they do.’ (respublika.lt)

On 19th of May Gediminas Kirkilas, Deputy Speaker of the Lithuanian Parliament, in National Radio and Television of Lithuania programme ‘The weak’ said that „Not only Lithuania’s but NATO’s entire defense model must be reviewed. And clearly first and foremost in countries like Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia which has a border with Russia. It’s also clear that we face a completely new warfare for which NATO is not prepared because there has been a period of peaceful coexistence with Russia. This is a strange kind of warfare where first of all information, known as the “soft power” is used.‘ (National Radio and Television of Lithuania, 15min.lt, balsas.lt). Read more in Lithuania Tribune: http://www.lithuaniatribune.com/68363/kirkilas-be-prepared-for-an-unconventional-warfare-201468363/.

Linas Kojala, analyst of Eastern Europe Studies Center, in an interview to the newspaper ‘Counselor of the farmer’ said that ‘impending decentralization of Ukraine due to aggression of Moscow fits Russia and European Union and even United States. All silently agrees that Ukraine will never be same as before 16th of March referendum of Crimea.’ (Counselor of the farmer, delfi.lt)

May 23, 2014 Lithuanian media round-up

On 23rd of May Dalia Grybauskaitė, Lithuanian President, talked on the phone with the David Cameron, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, about issues of Ukraine. Dalia Grybauskaitė stressed that core condition for restoring peace and stability in a country is a democratic elections and that European Union has a duty to help Ukraine in coping with economical challenges (Lithuanian President Press Service). Read more in Lithuania Tribune: http://www.lithuaniatribune.com/68361/lithuanian-president-british-pm-discuss-regional-security-issues-201468361/.

On 22nd of May Linas Linkevičius, Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs, in an interview to Deutsche Welle said that ‘Russian troops must be withdrawn from Ukrainian border because their presence creates additional tension, which is already high.’ Also he hopes that Ukrainian President elections will not be spoilt by these intruders from the outside – by intervention from a neighboring country. Read more in Ministry of Foreign Affairs website: http://urm.lt/default/en/news/dw-russia-has-violated-all-possible-treaties-1/.

On 23rd of May in European’s week discussion professor Benediktas Juodka, Chairman of Lithuanian Parliament Committee of Foreign Affairs, said that he has no doubts, that Associations agreement will be signed with Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine and then ratification process will start. (Lithuanian Parliament Press Office, BNS)

On 22-23 of May Šarūnas Adomavičius, Director of Transatlantic Cooperation and Security Policy Department In Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, participated in the informal European Union Security Policy Directors (SPD) meeting. He emphasized in the meeting that European Union has to react unitedly to situation in Ukraine and Russian politics related with that (Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs information)

On 22nd of May The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors approved three new projects for Ukraine amounting to US$1.48 billion. This new financing will be reinforced by technical assistance and policy dialogue to help drive forward the essential structural and macroeconomic reforms (delfi.lt, 15min.lt). Read more in World Bank website: http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2014/05/22/world-bank-boosts-support-for-recovery-in-ukraine.

May 22, Lithuanian media round-up

On 21st of May ambassador Raimonda Murmokaitė, Lithuania’s Permanent Representative to the UN, at the United Nations Security Council meeting expressed a grave concern over an increasing number of human rights violations in the east and south of Ukraine, including abductions, taking of hostages, arbitrary detentions, beatings and torture of civilians, attacks on journalists, as well as arbitrary executions carried out by pro-Russian separatists. She also stressed an increasing number of violations and harassment against Crimean Tatars, noting a growing number of displacements among Tatar population and restrictions of their political, social and economic rights. (Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs information)

On 22nd of May Alexander Lukashenko, President of Belarus, in an exclusive interview to Kseniya Sobchak in TV station ‘Dozd’ said that ‘he would fight with anyone who invades to Belarus event if it would be Putin.’ (delfi.lt, kaunodiena.lt)

On 21st of May Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Russian activist of opposition in an interview to the BBC told that ‘Ukraine had entered a “slow-burn civil war” but he did not believe Russian President Vladimir Putin was planning to actually invade eastern Ukraine.’ (delfi.lt, 15min.lt). Read and watch more on BBC: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-27513321.

On 20th of May Edward Lucas, British journalist, in his article about Prince Charles private remark that Vladimir Putin was behaving like Adolf Hitler analyzed the similarities and differences between Hitler and Putin and situation before the World War II and current one in Ukraine (Lithuania Tribune, 15min.lt). Read more in Daily Mail: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2635617/Hitler-Putin-Charles-right.html.

On 22nd of May Yaroslav Melnyk, Ukrainian contemporary writer, in an ‘Open dialogue’ radio programme said that ‘Russia used the tactics of Goebbels and was able to indoctrinate to the subconsciousness of Russians that Russia is a great state and that it must rule if not the world then at least our region.’ Yaroslav also added that Russians including Russians of Ukraine are recovering from that propaganda and starting to judge actions of Putin in Ukraine less favourably.’ (The News Radio)

 

 

 

May 21, 2014 Lithuanian media round-up

On 21st of May, Joe Biden, U.S. Vice President, said that ‘Russia must be punished if it seeks to derail Ukraine’s presidential elections this weekend.’ (lrytas.lt. delfi.lt, 15min.lt)

On 21st of May John Michael McHugh, United States Secretary of the Army, in an exclusive interview to 15min.lt said that ‘military cooperation of Lithuania and United States of America will be even more collaborative in the future.’ He also ensured Lithuanians that in case of conventional or unconventional warfare it will invoke 5th article of the Treaty of Washington.’ (15min.lt)

 

May 20, 2014 Lithuanian media roundup

On 20th of May Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted a Memorandum of Peace and Concord. It calls for the de-escalation of tension in the country, full support of the Geneva agreements and the promise of Constitutional reform. (15min.lt)

On 30th of May -1st of June the NATO Parliamentary Assembly’s spring session, with the main subject aimed at the situation in Ukraine, will take place in Lithuanian Parliament (diena.lt). Read more in Lithuania Tribune:
http://www.lithuaniatribune.com/68175/ukraine-to-dominate-nato-parliamentary-assembly-session-in-vilnius-201468175/.

On 20th of May Dmitry Medvedev, Russian Prime Minister, said that ‘Russia is being pulled into a new Cold War with the United States and its allies, who are using economic warfare reminiscent of the Soviet Union under Leonid Brezhnev‘ (vz.lt, lrytas.lt, 15min.lt). Watch more on Bloomberg: http://www.bloomberg.com/video/medvedev-says-second-cold-war-is-slowly-approaching-uASWH5BIQ8~muzJjTTIizw.html.

On 19th of May Miroslav Lajcak, Slovakia‘s Minister of Foreign Affairs, said that Slovakia was preparing a line for reverse natural gas supplies to Ukraine. (delfi.lt)

On 20th of May Joe Biden, United States Vice-president, during his visit to Romania said that Europe’s borders should not be changed at the point of a gun. (lrytas.lt, 15min.lt)

May 18-19, 2014 Lithuania media round-up

On 18th of May Ivan Simonovic, the UN assistant secretary general for human rights, said that ‘Ukraine is coming close to the “point of no return“. He also added that situation in Ukraine remains similar to the situation in Croatia in the 90s. (vz.lt, alfa.lt, bernardinai.lt)

On 18th of May Michael Birnbaum, journalist of Washington Post, in his article wrote that ‘Vowing to defend ethnic Russians wherever they live, President Vladimir Putin has embarked on an aggressive campaign to rebuild the pride and assertiveness of the Russian people, which he says was lost in the breakup of the Soviet Union’ (15min.lt). Read more in Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/russian-president-putin-builds-ties-in-moldova-kazakhstan-and-baltics/2014/05/17/fa1beb22-c45f-4027-9b30-cc45212c785e_story.html?tid=pm_world_pop.

On 18th of May, John Ohman, one of Lithuanian activists supporting Ukraine, in an interview to ‘Šiauliai plius’ news portal said that ‘conflict in Ukraine is not only an attempt to expand a territory, but also a grand experiment by Russia which was aimed to test the new tactics in warfare.’’ Also he thinks that Russia is retreating from Ukraine now, but there’s a possibility that Russia will try to experiment in Baltic states too. (etaplius.lt)

On 19th of May Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Secretary General of NATO, said that they have unfortunately not seen any evidence of Russian troops withdrawing from the borders of Ukraine’. (15min.lt)

 

May 17, Lithuania media round-up

On 17th of May, news portal lzinios.lt published an interview with Elvina Ergashova, Crimean Tatar. She said that ‘Tatar’s situation in Crimea is very tense at this moment.’ Also Elvina hopes that Crimea will come back to Ukraine in a year or two and this chaos and terror will come to an end.’ (lzinios.lt)

On 17th of May, Vytautas Leškevičius, Lithuanian Vice-minister of Foreign Affairs, met with Mustafa Dzhemilev, Leader of the Crimean Tatars, in Kiev. According to Mustafa Dzhemilev, ‘kidnapping of Tatars, prohibition to speak the native language, limitations of the meeting law, discrimination and even murders because of ethnicity became common place in occupied Crimea.’ (ELTA, 15min.lt)

John Kerry, US Secretary of the Department of State, has made a statement on the 70th anniversary of Joseph Stalin’s forcible deportation of more than 230,000 Crimean Tatars from their homeland in Crimea. In his statement, he said that ‘for many Crimean Tatars, these abuses are still fresh in their minds and current Russia’s occupation and illegal attempt to annex Crimea has reopened these old wounds.’ (15min.lt)

May 16, 2014 Lithuanian media round-up

On 16th of May Lithuanian Parliament delegated 8 Members of Parliament to observe elections of Ukrainian President, which will be held on 25th of May. (Lithuanian Parliament Press Office, BNS, ELTA, 15min.lt)

On 17th of May Street Music Day will be held for the first time in Kiev, Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Dnipropetrovsk and Odessa. Lithuanian artists will arrive to support European Ukraine: groups ‘Biplan’, ‘Dee&Kammy’, ‘Colors Of Bubbles’, Jurgis Didžiulis will perform in Kiev, Edgaras Lubys/Amberlife and percussionist Donatas Senkus – in Lviv. (veidas.lt, vz.lt, delfi.lt, 15min.lt)

On 16th of May Vytautas Leškevičius, Lithuanian Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Valeriy Piatnytsk, Government’s Commissioner for European Integration of Ukraine chaired the 10th meeting of the Lithuania-Ukraine Commission for European Integration. The Commission meeting discussed the creation of a coordination mechanism for European integration in Ukraine, Ukraine’s progress towards a visa-free regime with the EU and possible Lithuania’s expert assistance to Ukraine in the implementation of the Association Agenda. The representatives of Ukraine pointed out that they highly appreciated Lithuania’s support and consultations. (Ministry of Foreign Affairs information, ELTA, lrytas.lt)

On 16th of May Anders Fogh Rasmussen, NATO chief, said that ‘he could no longer trust Russia’s assurances on sovereignty and the territorial integrity of countries in the region after its annexation of Crimea’ (vz.lt, lrytas.lt, 15min.lt, delfi.lt). Read more in The Times of Israel: http://www.timesofisrael.com/nato-chief-no-one-can-trust-russia-after-ukraine/#ixzz31u0kaIJu.

On 16th of May second United Nations report about human rights situation in Ukraine was published. It says that ‘human rights violations have escalated in Eastern Ukraine and serious problems are emerging in Crimea, as well as a “wave of abductions and unlawful detentions” of journalists, activists, politicians, representatives of international bodies and members of the military’ (delfi.lt, lrytas.lt, 15min.lt). Read more in Reuters: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/05/16/us-ukraine-crisis-un-idUSBREA4F05Y20140516.

On 14th of May Bill Clinton, former President of United States, accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of attempting to ‘re-establish Russian greatness, not in Cold War terms — in 19th-century-empire terms,’ warning world leaders they are perhaps dealing not with a rational foreign-policy thinker (delfi.lt, 15min.lt). Read more in Business insider: http://www.businessinsider.com/bill-clinton-putin-ukraine-russia-obama-2014-5#ixzz31u3nvN7S.

On May 16th Helmut Schmidt, former Chancellor of Germany, said that ‘Ukraine’s crisis reminds the eve of World War I and danger that situation will become more tense, as it did in August of 1914, is growing everyday.’ (delfi.lt, balsas.lt, 15min.lt)

May 15, 2014 Lithuanian media round-up

On 15th of May, Alexander Lukashenko, Belarusian President, met with Mikhail Yezhel, Ukraine’s Ambassador in Belarus. During the meeting Belarusian President said that ‘he wishes that the Ukraine crisis ended as soon as possible and that there was no need to pull Ukraine in any blocs or bring troops there from any side.’ (delfi.lt, lrytas.lt)

Marius Laurinavičius, analyst of Eastern Europe Studies Center, in his commentary in IQ journal said that ‘Russia is determined to target weak states such as Ukraine firstly, because in these countries it is easy to split up society according to plans form directors of Moscow and also that they hoped to win without any help from army.’ (IQ journal)

On 15th of May Linas Linkevičius, Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs, participated in global security forum GLOBSEC and stressed the need to ensure independent elections of Ukrainian President in order to stabilise situation in Ukraine.The representatives of the states also agreed to continue to strengthen and coordinate a response to Russian aggression, annexation of Crimea and continuous subversion activities in Eastern Ukraine. (Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs information, ELTA, 15min.lt)

May 14, 2014 Lithuanian media round-up

On 14th of May Petras Vaitiekūnas, Lithuanian Ambassador in Ukraine, in a The News radio programme ‘Actual Hour‘ said that ‘the tense situation remains in a most Ukrainian Region. Armed mobs looting flats, shops and banks are raging in separatist’s occupied cities. They also take hostages and demand ransom from relatives, torture and murder families, priests and Ukrainian politics.’ (delfi.lt, lrytas.lt, 15min.lt)

On 14th of May Vytautas Leškevičius, Lithuanian Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Igor Senchar, State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Slovenia condemned Russian aggression against Ukraine and agreed to continue to hold the position supporting Ukraine’s territorial integrity and non-recognition of the annexation of Crimea. (Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs information)

On 14th of May Sigmar Gabriel, German Vice Chancelor, said that ‘Europe is partly to blame for the crisis in Ukraine although this is no excuse for Russian behaviour towards the former Soviet republic.’ (15min.lt)

Clifford Gaddy, economist and Russia expert, in an interview to Deutsche Welle (DW) said that ‘the only solution to the dispute between Moscow and the West is a neutral Ukraine’ (delfi.lt). Read more in DW: http://www.dw.de/russia-will-not-be-brought-to-its-knees/a-17630878/.

Timothy Snyder, American historian, in his fabulous article said that ‘Even as Europeans follow with alarm or fascination the spread of Russian special forces from Crimea through Donetsk and Luhansk, Vladimir Putin’s propagandists seek to draw Europeans into an alternative reality, an account of history rather different from what most Ukrainians think, or indeed what the evidence can bear. Ukraine has never existed in history, goes the claim, or if it has, only as part of a Russian empire. Ukrainians do not exist as a people; at most they are Little Russians. But if Ukraine and Ukrainians do not exist, then neither does Europe or Europeans. If Ukraine disappears from history, then so does the site of the greatest crimes of both the Nazi and Stalinist regimes. If Ukraine has no past, then Hitler never tried to make an empire, and Stalin never exercised terror by hunger.‘ (Lithuanian National Radio and Television). Read more in New Republic: http://www.newrepublic.com/article/117692/fascism-returns-ukraine.