Russia has summoned Lithuania's charge d'affaires in Moscow to condemn the "barbaric" exhumation of the bodies of Soviet soldiers buried in the Baltic country as a "desecration".
Jolanta Tubaite was issued "a vigorous protest regarding the new barbaric projects of the Lithuanian authorities aimed at destroying, in the town of Vievis, the cemetery of Soviet soldiers and officers who fell in battle for the liberation of Lithuania from the fascist yoke", Moscow's foreign ministry said on Monday.
"It was pointed out that the destruction, damage, or desecration of military graves, including those located abroad, is a criminal offence in Russia," it added.
"The malicious campaign aimed at desecrating the remains of soldiers who fell in battle in Lithuania continues to gain momentum."
Tubaite had already been summoned on April 30 following the exhumation of army graves in the city of Siauliai.
According to Lithuanian media, the exhumations are linked to a law, which came into force in 2023, on the "de-Sovietisation" of the EU and NATO member.
Relations are at rock bottom between Russia and the Baltic states, which count among Ukraine's most fervent backers.
Tensions have regularly flared with Moscow since the Baltic states gained independence from the USSR in 1991 over Soviet memorials and the fate of the large Russian minorities in the region.
