Lithuania Protests Russia's Planned Fireworks Marking Vilnius Liberation From Nazis

The Lithuanian Foreign Ministry has summoned a representative of the Russian embassy and issued a note of protest regarding firework shows planned by Russia that will honor the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Vilnius and Kaunas from the Nazis by the Soviet soldiers, the ministry said in a statement on Thursday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 11th July, 2019) The Lithuanian Foreign Ministry has summoned a representative of the Russian embassy and issued a note of protest regarding firework shows planned by Russia that will honor the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Vilnius and Kaunas from the Nazis by the Soviet soldiers, the ministry said in a statement on Thursday.

The Russian Defense Ministry has been planning to conduct 11 fireworks displays in 2019, each symbolizing the liberation of different Soviet and Eastern European cities, as a part of preparations for next year's celebration of the 75th anniversary of the Soviet and allied victory in World War II. The list of cities includes Odessa, Sevastopol, Minsk, Vilnius, Brest, Kaunas, Chisinau, Bucharest, Tallinn, Riga and Belgrade. In 2020, Russia will conduct six fireworks displays marking the liberation of Warsaw, Budapest, Bratislava, Vienna, Prague and also on the occasion of taking Berlin.

"On 11 July, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania summoned a representative of the Russian Embassy and expressed a protest over the decision by the Russian Federation's Western Military District to fire gun salutes to mark the anniversary of occupation of Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, this Saturday, and Kaunas on 1 August," the statement said.

Earlier in the day, similar protest was expressed by the Latvian Foreign Ministry, and on Tuesday a representative of the Russian embassy in Tallinn was summoned by the Estonian Foreign Ministry.

The Nazi occupation of Vilnius began on June 24, 1941 and lasted for 1,115 days, until July 13, 1944, when the Soviet army entered the city.

The Baltic states consider that they were occupied by the Soviet Union until its collapse in 1991. The Russian leadership has repeatedly pointed out that the Baltic countries joined the Soviet Union in accordance with the legal framework of the time. The national governments had been in place in all three countries for the duration of their time in the Soviet Union, apart from the time of World War II occupation by Germany.