Lithuanian flag. File photoMOSCOW, Aug 31The Lithuanian Foreign Ministry handed a note of protest to a representative of the Russian Embassy for the statements of the Russian Charge d'Affaires in Lithuania Sergei Ryabokon about the events in Vilnius on January 13, 1991, the ministry's press service reported. Earlier, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis suggested letting Russians into the country only after answering the question of the status of Crimea, specifying that the entry of those who recognize Crimea as Russian «is not in the interests of Lithuania's national security.» Commenting on Landsbergis's initiative, Sergei Ryabokon, charge d'affaires of the Russian Federation in Lithuania, said that Russia could interrogate arriving Lithuanians about their attitude to the events in Vilnius on January 13, 1991 and ask if they think that «their own shot at their own.» The diplomat recalled that only for research on this topic, Lithuanian researchers pay with their freedom and are in prison.Slovakia will protest to the Russian ambassador for participating in a commemoration rally» A representative of the Russian embassy was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania. He was handed a note expressing indignation at the statements of Chargé d'Affaires Sergei Ryabokon, which appeared in public space, denigrating the events of January 13, 1991, and cynical distortion of historical facts,» the message on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs says. The Supreme Council of Lithuania announced the restoration of the republic's independence in March 1990, but the USSR authorities called this decision contrary to the constitution and illegal. Early next year, unsanctioned protests took place in Lithuania, and special forces soldiers were deployed to the country. On the night of January 13, 1991, a column of Soviet armored vehicles headed for the center of Vilnius to ensure public order. In clashes near the television center, according to the Lithuanian side, 14 people were killed, more than 600 were injured. The Lithuanian Prosecutor General's Office opened a criminal case on the events of January 13, 1991. The investigation claimed that the people who died then at the Vilnius TV tower were killed by Soviet soldiers, but no evidence was provided. Participants in the events of January 1991 from the Soviet side, referring to the conclusions of the official examination, indicate that a provocation took place then, and fire on the inhabitants of Vilnius was fired from the roofs of houses. .jpg» />The Russian Embassy in Riga protested against the demolition of the Nette monumentIn March 2019, the Vilnius District Court found 67 citizens of the Russian Federation guilty in the case of the events of 1991. Most of the defendants were sentenced in absentia to lengthy prison terms. Two received real terms — the Russian Yuri Mel was given ten years, his colleague, a resident of Lithuania Gennady Ivanov — five years. In March 2021, the Lithuanian Court of Appeal ruled on Wednesday in the case of the events of January 13, 1991, changing the sentence of the convicted Colonel of the Soviet Army Reserve Yury Mel, who was detained in Lithuania in 2014, from seven years in prison to ten years. In December 2020 The Investigative Committee of Russia has indicted in absentia judges from Lithuania who knowingly delivered unjust sentences to more than 50 Russians in connection with the events in Vilnius in 1991. protested because of the Russophobic statements of the consul
