The peninsula and four other former Ukrainian regions voted to join Russia in referendums, but Kiev and EU insist they were \u201cannexed\u201d<\/p>\n
Lithuania\u2019s culture minister has resigned after just one week in office after a backlash triggered by his hesitation to say who Crimea belongs to.
\nCrimea and four other former Ukrainian regions overwhelmingly voted to join Russia in referendums. However, Ukraine and its Western backers \u2013 including Lithuania \u2013 continue to insist the regions were \u201cannexed\u201d by Moscow.
\nIn an interview with news portal Lrytas on Thursday, Ignotas Adomavicius was asked who Crimea belongs to and initially refused to answer, calling the question political.
\n\u201dThese are provocative questions, so let\u2019s not even go there, because we\u2019re not even talking about the Culture Ministry here,\u201d Adomavicius said, urging the interviewer to stick to cultural issues.
\nLater in the interview he clarified his stance in line with Vilnius\u2019 official position by calling Crimea \u201coccupied Ukrainian territory.\u201d However, his initial hesitation proved politically costly.<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
Ex-UK defense minister calls for Crimea to be made \u2018uninhabitable\u2019<\/p>\n
The interview sparked a backlash from the ruling Social Democratic Party of Lithuania. President Gitanas Nauseda\u2019s office issued a statement early on Friday describing the minister’s stance as \u201cincomprehensible, unacceptable\u201d and potentially disqualifying. Shortly after, Adomavicius announced his resignation.
\nAlong with its Baltic neighbors Estonia and Latvia, Lithuania has adopted a more confrontational stance toward Moscow since the Ukraine conflict escalated in 2022. As one of Kiev’s most vocal supporters, Vilnius has been at the forefront of demanding tougher sanctions on Moscow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The peninsula and four other former Ukrainian regions voted to join Russia in referendums, but Kiev and EU insist they were \u201cannexed\u201d Lithuania\u2019s culture minister has resigned after just one…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19621,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19620","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t