Moscow accuses Lithuania of politicizing Jan 1991 events in Vilnius
MOSCOW. Jan 15 (Interfax) - The Russian Foreign Ministry has expressed disappointment that Lithuanian authorities are politicizing the tragic events that took place outside a television tower in Vilnius in January 1991.
"Such an approach causes nothing but regret. We have already explained our position repeatedly: politicizing human misfortune is unacceptable and simply immoral, to say nothing of the gross distortion of the facts which are being construed in a lopsided fashion, profiting only Vilnius and damaging historical objectivity," the ministry's spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, said on Monday.
"Hence the illicit nature of the shameful trial being held in the Lithuanian capital of the so-called 'January 13, 1991' case, which tramples on the fundamental principles of justice, especially the unacceptability of giving retroactive effect to criminal law. We recall that Russian Army Reserve Colonel Y. N. Mel, who is being tried in this case, is still being held in Lithuanian prison illegally," Zakharova said.
"Obviously, the path chosen by Vilnius of historical score-settling is a dead end," she said. "It is time to turn the page relating to the tragic events near the Vilnius television tower by allowing historians to think over that turbulent period calmly and impartially," she said.