"I think it is a hideous lie, which was used as part of the information war. It is an attempt to justify the sentiments that are currently escalated on the Russian side, while our haulers and our trade are being stopped," Olekas told the national LRT television.
"Today we should take every possible measure to keep the hideous lie from repeating and spreading in Lithuania," the minister said in an interview published on LRT website on Wednesday.
Olekas pledged to take additional measures to protect the information space after the incident.
"We have people at the ministry who are in charge of the information space. We analyze such reports. I believe that additional measures will be taken, as this cannot continue. We have to defend the people who are no longer capable of defending themselves – those who gave their lives for our independence. We have to defend them," said the minister.
False facts about the Soviet aggression against Lithuania on January 13, 1991, were reported during the First Baltic Channel's broadcast "Man and Law" on October 4. The FBC's broadcast included an interview with Mikhail Golovatov, the then commander of the Alpha Group that stormed the TV Tower in Vilnius, and other people who denied the military attack.
Fourteen people were killed during an attempt by the Soviet army and special forces to take over the Vilnius TV Tower on January 13, 1991, and 580 injured were taken to hospitals.
The Radio and Television Commission will hold a meeting later on Wednesday to discuss the actions after the broadcast. On Tuesday, the commission demanded that the Russian-language First Baltic Channel retract the claims made in the broadcast about and apologize to Lithuanian citizens.
Following the broadcast, cable TV provider Cgates stopped the rebroadcasting of the Latvian-registered FBC.
Jolanta Butkevičienė, the head of the holding in Lithuania operating the First Baltic Channel, on Tuesday offered a public apology for the misleading broadcast on the January 13, 1991, coup, dismissing it as a provocation.
