Human Rights Commissioner for Russia Vladimir Lukin told the Interfax news agency that “no one can forbid Lithuania to present their claims, but no one can forbid us to pay no attention to them.”
He then added that he was sure that even if Lithuania manages to invent some claims, Russia will respond with its own claims that will not be smaller and most likely will be even larger than the Lithuanian ones.
Lukin’s comments came on the next day after Lithuanian government approved the creation of a special commission with a task to evaluate the damage inflicted to the country between 1940 and 1991.
The Russian official added also that while absolutely meaningless on an international level, actions similar to Lithuania’s recent initiative are quite popular as a tool in internal political struggle. “They have their internal politics and people compete there in presenting themselves as tough patriots. This is their private business and we’d better not pay any attention to that,” he said.
First deputy chairman of the Russian Upper House, Aleksandr Torshin went even further, saying that Moscow should repay the compensation in Soviet rubles and demand that the Lithuanian side return everything built there during the Soviet occupation. “We can accept monetary payment either in dollars or in Lithuanian currency,” the Russian official added.
