Foreign Ministry launches inquiry into embassy in Washington

Lithuania’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has formed a commission to investigate reports about the situation at the country’s embassy in Washington, LRT reported on Friday.

The commission includes representatives of the ministry’s General Inspectorate, the ministry’s employees’ trade union, and its human resources and legal departments.

The investigation will seek to assess the reports objectively and impartially while protecting the rights and privacy of everyone involved and maintaining the confidentiality of the process, the ministry said.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs takes seriously every piece of information received about possible workplace, professional ethics or other employment-related issues,” the ministry said. It added that various preventive and support measures were in place to protect employees’ well-being and psychological health, and that staff could report possible cases of unequal treatment, workplace violence or harassment anonymously.

The Delfi news portal reported last week that some embassy employees had contacted the ministry over what they described as disrespectful behaviour by the ambassador, raised voices and long working hours.

Gediminas Varvuolis has served as Lithuania’s ambassador to the United States since August 1 last year.

The BNS news agency also reported that representatives of the opposition Homeland Union Lithuanian Christian Democrats were trying to organise informal discussions about Varvuolis’s work as ambassador.

According to BNS, an invitation from Žygimantas Pavilionis, deputy chairman of the Lithuanian parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, and former Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė to discuss the matter with party members reached the entire embassy staff, with individual employees used to distribute the information.

Pavilionis confirmed to BNS that he had been communicating with embassy employees. He said they had mentioned Varvuolis’s work during the conversations, while Šimonytė said she had not spoken directly with employees at the Lithuanian embassy in Washington for a long time.

Remigijus Motuzas, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, told BNS that the committee would hold a meeting at the end of August, where the ministry’s leadership would provide information about the situation.