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According to them, it is disappointing that commercial performances in Lithuania continue to be organized by artists “who support the efforts of the Vladimir Putin regime to establish themselves in the occupied Crimea and Donbass, in violation of international agreements and Ukrainian law.”
A letter addressed to the Seimas, the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Culture and the Vilnius City Municipality indicates that one such event is planned for Sunday at the Lithuanian National Philharmonic in Vilnius. The soloist and main guest of the concert is the Russian pianist Nikolai Luganskis, who gave a concert in the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic a few years ago at the personal invitation of the head of the occupation regime of this territory Alexander Alexander Sakharchenko.
“We are convinced that the cooperation of Lithuanian national organizations with the actors that legitimize the occupation of Ukraine’s territory is a harmful precedent that could have a negative impact on Lithuania’s security and national reconciliation in our country,” say the authors. of the letter.
They noted that other cultural events are planned in Lithuania in the near future, “to which people have been invited to participate, who in one way or another have also contributed to the legitimacy of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine (Yevgeny Kniazev, Andrei Diyev, Danila Monastery Choir, Svetlana Surganova, etc.).
Vilnius Ukrainian Community, Kaunas Ukrainian Community, Visaginas Ukrainian Society, Union of Lithuanian Tatar Communities, Lithuanian Ukrainian Congress, Ukrainian European Cultural Institute Public Institution, Lithuanian Brotherhood for the Defense of Independence of January 13, Non-governmental Organizations, Capacities Defense of the Lithuanian State The Coordination Council, the Lithuanian Atlantic Treaty Community (LATA), urges concert organizers and representatives of educational institutions to “protect their reputation, taking into account the realities of hybrid warfare and the politics of Lithuanian and EU sanctions “.
Gintaras Rinkevičius, conductor of the State Symphony Orchestra, which invited N. Luganskis, told BNS on Tuesday that he is one of the best pianists in the world and that he has not followed the geography of his concerts.
In May this year, the Seimas adopted amendments to the Law on the Legal Status of Foreigners to include in the list of undesirable persons in Lithuania those who have publicly expressed their support for an aggressive policy followed by a foreign state and which violates international law.
This amendment came when it became clear that the Culture Council had awarded grants for lost or relocated cultural events to companies that had planned concerts by Russian artists Filip Kirkorov and Mikhail Shufutinsky.
On January 19, at the request of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Migration Department added F. Kirkorov to the list of undesirable persons in Lithuania for justifying the occupation of Crimea.
