"We shouldn't jump to conclusions and rush to condemn or judge these people. Let's just wait and see. As far as I have heard from the statements by Foreign Minister Linas Linkevičius, an expert group has been set up, the State Security Department is also participating in the settlement of the matter," he told Žinių Radijas news radio on Wednesday morning.
At the same time he notes that ambassadors "should possess sufficient moral strength and follow ethics, this may not be a major crime that requires a grave punishment, but standards of ethics were indeed violated."
"I do not think it is nice for diplomats to use this kind of rhetoric about our leaders, state leaders," Gedvilas added.
Last month, recordings of several phone conversations were published on youtube.com, allegedly involving Lithuania's ambassadors to Azerbaijan and Hungary speaking to diplomats and businessmen in Vilnius. In the recordings, the men share informal personal insights on the relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia, Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevičius' visit to Russia, and other topics of the day.
Butkevičius stated earlier this week that the two diplomats lost his confidence. He later explained that his mistrust in the ambassadors to Hungary and Azerbaijan came after looking into the moral side of the story, as the leaked telephone conversations featured personal opinions and offensive remarks.
Linkevičius, the foreign minister, pledged to submit his proposal later on Wednesday after examining the investigation material.
