Russian Embassy Blames Lithuania for Impasse Over War Graves

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 23rd November, 2018) Russia's embassy in Vilnius on Friday accused Lithuanian authorities of escalating tensions over Russian war graves dating back to two world wars.

Lithuanian authorities for cultural heritage ordered in September to remove tombstones on two mass graves of Russian Empire and Soviet soldiers who were recently identified and buried in the Antakalnis cemetery near Vilnius.

"It appears that instead of working this out through a negotiated deal on burial sites of soldiers and victims of civil wars and repressions .

.. Vilnius tries to artificially escalate the situation," the embassy said.

It accused the Lithuanian Cultural Heritage Department of attempts to dictate what the memorial plaques should say, arguing the text "distorts the Soviet Army's liberating role and the results of World War II."

Russia expects Lithuanian authorities to take "concrete, depoliticized steps toward ending the impasse that they themselves created," the diplomatic mission said.