Lithuania hands note of protest to Russian charge d'affaires over war crimes in Ukraine

On Tuesday, 26 November, Lithuania presented Russian charge d'affaires Alexander Elkin with a letter of protest against Russia's war crimes in Ukraine.

Source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania, as reported by European Pravda

Details: Lithuania invited Elkin to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on 26 November and presented him with a note expressing a strong protest against Russia's continued war crimes against Ukraine and its people, the ministry said.

Quote: "As Russia continues its aggression against Ukraine and increasingly shells Ukrainian cities, their residents and the critical infrastructure, reports of unarmed Ukrainian prisoners of war being shot by Russian forces and other war crimes committed by the aggressor appear with appalling regularity," the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry stated.

According to the government, at least three such cases involving over 20 Ukrainian military personnel were reported in October and November of 2024 alone.

"Today, during the meeting, the representative of the Russian Federation was told that if the Russian leadership and country’s law enforcement agencies did not take action to investigate and prevent these crimes, they would be considered complicit in these crimes," Lithuania informed.

The statement said that Russian diplomats who defend Russia's military aggression against Ukraine and who actively or passively absolve the Russian Federation of culpability for a number of war crimes will also be held accountable.

Background: 

• On 26 November, Ukrainian law enforcers uncovered another war crime by the Russians and opened an investigation into the execution of five Ukrainian prisoners of war on the Pokrovsk front in Donetsk Oblast.
• A representative of the Russian Embassy was summoned to the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry on 18 November and presented with a note of protest over Russia's full-scale, 1,000-day-old invasion on Ukraine.
• Western leaders, members of governments and ambassadors issued statements of solidarity with Ukraine on the 1,000th day since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

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