Russia protests Lithuania’s decision to relocate Soviet soldiers’ remains in Šiauliai

Russia has formally protested Lithuania’s plan to remove the remains of around 50 Soviet soldiers from a burial site in central Šiauliai, the Lithuanian public broadcaster LRT reported on Wednesday.

The Russian foreign ministry issued a “strict protest” to Jolanta Tubaitė, Lithuania’s chargé d’affaires in Moscow, over the decision. The move follows a 2024 ruling by Lithuania’s Desovietisation Commission, which found that the burial site near Šiauliai Cathedral violated a legal ban on promoting totalitarian and authoritarian regimes.

Lithuania’s foreign ministry has not yet provided an official response.