Lithuania expels Russian ambassador, downgrades diplomatic ties

On Monday, Lithuania downgraded its diplomatic ties with Russia and ordered the ambassador to leave the country.

The Russian consulate in the port city of Klaipėda will be ordered to close, while Lithuania’s current ambassador to Moscow will also return to the country, Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis has announced.

"In response to Russia's military aggression against sovereign Ukraine and the atrocities committed by the Russian armed forces in various occupied Ukrainian cities, including the horrific massacre in Bucha, the Lithuanian government has decided to downgrade the diplomatic representation and the ambassador of the Russian Federation will be obliged to leave Lithuania," he said.

"The brutality of the Russian occupation forces has gone beyond any norms of the civilised world," Landsbergis said. "What the world sees in Bucha, unfortunately, may be only the beginning. As other cities are liberated, we may see more horrific instances of war crimes."

Landsbergis also said that the Lithuanian ambassador to Ukraine was returning to Kyiv.