Lithuanian president reproaches Russia at UN session

As the Presidential Press office reported the Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus’ speech at the session of the United Nations General Assembly did not name Russia, however, accused the country of wasting its rich natural resources on weapons rather than using them on democracy.According to the President’, Lithuania and the Baltic region is a success story in terms of establishing themselves in the international system, while some other countries in the region were not able to do that.

The President stated that; “We may only guess why these countries perceive the integration of democracies at their border as a national threat. We feel sorry for a society at large when its government chooses to spend the country’s natural riches for guns and not for democratic reforms. And clearly we should not tolerate the attempts to falsify historical facts about the Soviet occupation of the Baltic States or the denial of the deliberately caused Holodomor in Ukraine that killed millions”.

 The President noted that some conflicts in the world were less visible but that did not make them less dangerous, adding that the UN should be more “visible and outspoken” in such regions. In Adamkus’ words, “frozen conflicts” in Eastern Europe and South Caucasus may become “very hot” one day unless we act immediately.“Let us not forget that it is not only the conflicts that are frozen, but frozen are the lives and dreams of the people living in those areas of artificial conflict. This is where the United Nations should be more visible and more outspoken. (…) However, our readiness to stand up and speak openly to the states if they cross the line is also an indispensable element of that effort”.