Lithuanian members of the Seimas demand explanations from Borusewicz

A group of Lithuanian Seimas members requested the President of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaitė, the Speaker of the Seimas Loreta Graužinienė and the Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevičius to address an enquiry to the Marshal of the Polish Senate Bogdan Borusewicz about his “speculations concerning the implementation of commitments of Poland to Lithuania as a member state of NATO, which Borusewicz connects with the implementation of AWPL’s (Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania) demands concerning bilingualism by Lithuania”. The request of the Seimas members is a response to an article on zw.lt which was cited by Lithuanian news agencies and all media.

The Marshal of the Polish Senate Bogdan Borusewicz in an interview for foreign journalists criticized the leader of AWPL for pinning a St George’s ribbon which is associated with supporters of Russia in Ukraine, he assured that Poland will continue to “put great pressure on Lithuania” and accused the first and the present presidents of Lithuania of causing tension in relations between the two countries. Borusewicz supposedly said that “in the event of threat let Swedes defend Lithuania, we won’t rush to the aid. We will see what happens” – stated the group of Seimas members in their letter.

The statement that Poland will not undertake to defend Lithuania and wait to see if other members of NATO engage is absolutely inconsistent with the commitments of Poland to NATO, which include the most important one – the defence of member states of NATO in the event of armed aggression.

“If such words were really spoken and are not distorted by media, they could be understood as a direct attempt to blackmail Lithuania, negation of international commitment and thereby has a significant influence on deterioration of relations between the two countries” – said the request.

The letter was signed by the following Seimas members: Rima Baškienė, Stasys Brundza, Vida Marija Čigriejienė, Arimantas Dumčius, Povilas Gylys, Petras Gražulis, Sergejus Jovaiša, Vytautas Juozapaitis, Rytas Kupčinskas, Kazimieras Kuzminskas, Algirdas Vaclovas Patackas, Paulius Saudargas, Valentinas Stundys, Valdas Vasiliauskas, Povilas Urbšys