Lithuania responds to Russian opposition on 'unfair' sanctions
Gabrielius Landsbergis, Lithuanian Foreign Minister (photo: Getty Images)
Representatives of the Russian opposition who were released under the terms of the exchange between Russia and Western countries began to talk about unfair sanctions. They claimed that the EU should not restrict the rights of ordinary Russian citizens. Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis reacted to such statements.
Landsbergis explained that he hears talk of the innocence of ordinary Russians, but then sees these "ordinary" Russians killing ordinary Ukrainians.
"I see ordinary Russian mothers saying goodbye to their ordinary Russian sons and wishing them good luck with their ordinary Russian war crimes. I see ordinary Russian parents dressing up their ordinary Russian children in military uniforms and painting the letter Z on a cardboard tank costume. I see ordinary Russians coming together to make a huge Z formation in the town square. Ordinary Russia is sick," the minister emphasized.
He noted that in the case of the Russian Federation, healing will be a long and exhausting process that will begin only when Russia, and not just Russian leader Vladimir Putin, is defeated.
"Anything which slows down Russia’s total war machine will have ordinary Lithuanians’ support," Landsbergis wrote.
On August 1, the largest prisoner exchange between Western countries and Russia since the Cold War took place. The United States, Germany, and partner countries conducted a prisoner exchange with Russia. Moscow, in particular, released convicted opposition activists, journalists, and other political prisoners, and in return received spies and a professional killer.
During a press conference, Russian opposition leader Vladimir Kara-Murza, who was released as part of a prisoner exchange between Russia and the West, complained about sanctions against Russia. Kara-Murza complained that Western sanctions often target all Russians.
Moreover, the oppositionists Kara-Murza and Ilya Yashin, who were released from Russian prisons, said that no one had asked them whether they agreed to the exchange.
