Zhirinovsky threatens Lithuania with occupation of Vilnius and Klaipėda

The European Union’s Ambassador to Russia has demanded to voice the official Russia’s position concerning the public threats by Vladimir Zhirinovsky.

Vygaudas Ušackas said so in his comment to DELFI.lt.

As it is informed, these threats were uttered by the notorious leader of the LDPR (Liberal Democratic Party of Russia) during the debates on Russian TV, First Channel on Wednesday overnight, in which Vygaudas Ušackas was taking part as well.

“When Zhirinovsky threatened “to redeem Vilnius and Klaipėda”, I demanded Russia’s official position concerning respect for the territorial integrity of Lithuania,” the EU Ambassador said.

He underlined that a representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry said that it was “Zhirinovsky’s private opinion”. As said by Ušackas, he learnt about Zhirinovsky’s participation in the programme just a few hours before the broadcast.

"I immediately had second thoughts about participating in the clownery, which is often the case when he's attending. But I did it out of respect for the invitation from host Valery Fadeyev, as it took us 5-6 months to agree on it,” the EU Ambassador noted.

“Zhirinovsky had an exclusive status and possibilities to express himself – he started making various threats of 'redeeming Ukraine,' as well as 'Vilnius and Klaipėda, which do not belong to Lithuania'. This immediately triggered my reaction and indignation. I said I expected it to be different from the official position of Russia and President Vladimir Putin," the ambassador stressed.

In his words, the broadcast has a viewership of millions and great influence on public opinion.

The Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on its Twitter account also expressed a hope that the authorities of Russia would distance themselves from Zhirinovsky’s statements. “While getting used to Zhirinovsky’s hysteria, we expect Russian authorities to distance themselves from territorial claims to Lithuania,” the message reads.