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Lithuanian Foreign Minister calls leaked alleged conversations of Lithuanian diplomats â€œprovocationâ€

01 August 2013 12:35 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Shamil Alibeyli, Anakhanum Hidayatova – APA. Records of Lithuanian diplomats’ alleged phone conversations, leaked online, are information provocation, said Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Linas LinkeviÄius, adding that the Foreign Ministry is carrying out an investigation into the incident, APA reports quoting the Lithuania Tribune.

“On Wednesday, I asked the Inspectorate General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to investigate this incident, and I can only express my regret that there has been a rise in information provocations recently; therefore, we need to thoroughly investigate all this. These things that are being spread have nothing to do with the state’s position,” said LinkeviÄius.

Azerbaijani Ambassador to Lithuania Hasan Mammadzadeh told APA that the talks are underway in this regard: “Of course, it is the internal matter of Lithuania and a conversation between low-ranking diplomats. We are not going to comment on this issue. We will give information after the fact is investigated.”

The Embassy of Lithuania in Azerbaijan refused to comment on this fact. The embassy regarded these reports as provocation.

Records are said to had been uploaded to youtube.com on 8 July, 2013, in one of which, two Lithuanian diplomats are said to be involved in a conversation. It is presumed that one of the diplomats is Zenonas Kumetaitis, deputy director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Eastern Neighbourhood Policy Department, and the other one is Renatas Juška, Lithuania’s Ambassador to Hungary.

The men in the recording are having an informal conversation about Azerbaijan-Armenia relations, personal opinions on the conflict between the two countries, Azerbaijani and Armenians’ active participation in the resolution of issues related to them at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as the establishment of a group of friendship with Nagorno-Karabakh in the Lithuanian Seimas.

“I consider it right to call Nagorno-Karabakh as Artsakh. I am supportive of those who lead Armenians,” the man, named as Juska said.