Lithuanian Minister of Culture Ignotas Adomavičius, representing the far-right party Žvaigždė Nemuno (“Star of the Neman”), initially refused to answer questions about the status of Crimea, calling them “provocative.”
According to Delfi, on October 3, a journalist from lrytas.lt asked the minister about his position on Crimea.
“This is a provocative question, let’s not even approach it, because right now we are not talking about the Ministry of Culture,” Adomavičius replied after a pause following the question about who Crimea belongs to.
“Let’s not play these games. You see, there is a line that should not be crossed. This is where we need to stop. On these questions,” the minister continued, refusing to answer.
He also hesitated when asked what a Ukrainian victory would mean to him as a person and politician:
“Probably, the best people to know this are the Ukrainians themselves–what is a victory for them. Not us. We cannot understand it as deeply as they see the situation. Just as we, Lithuania, realized our victory when we emerged from occupation, from oppression, and became free, so they must determine their own victory. This is their path. Everyone must go through their own path. We can only help, support,” Adomavičius said.
One of the minister’s first planned foreign visits was to Ukraine.
Following the public backlash over the incident, the governing coalition called on him to resign from his post, which he did on the same day.
Delfi later reported that after submitting his resignation, Adomavičius finally gave a clear answer on Crimea.
During a subsequent press meeting, he stated that Crimea is part of Ukraine.
“But it is, unfortunately, occupied,” the former minister added.
When asked why he did not answer the question immediately, Adomavičius said, “The question must be asked correctly.”
When pressed on whether the lrytas.lt journalist was at fault for his earlier refusal to answer, the former Lithuanian culture minister said: “Yes.”
Earlier, protests had taken place in Lithuania against Adomavičius’ appointment, with critics questioning the competence of the politician, who represents the far-right party Žvaigždė Nemuno.
On October 5, a warning strike by the cultural and artistic sector is scheduled, which has not been canceled even after Adomavičius’ resignation.
Previously, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has openly spoken out against Ukraine’s potential membership in the European Union, claiming that Hungarians “do not want to be in the European Union together with Ukrainians.”
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