“I am pleased to see here, in Vilnius, Russian democrats, who are sincerely concerned about the future of Russia that will live at peace with its neighbours,” said Linkevičius in his welcome speech.
Lithuania’s Foreign Minister noted that the forum proved that charges of Russophobia against Lithuania and other Western countries were fictitious and unfounded.
The meeting focused on Russia’s foreign and domestic policy processes, the outcome of the election for the State Duma, artificial impediments facing Russian democratic forces and the threat of propaganda.
Lithuania’s Foreign Minister and the Russian democrats discussed aggression in eastern Ukraine, the ongoing conflict in Syria, and prospects for Russia’s relations with the West.
The meeting was attended by a member of the Russian opposition, one of the greatest chess players of all time, and former world chess champion Garry Kasparov, with whom Lithuania’s Foreign Minister played a chess game.
The meeting was also attended by Russia’s former Deputy Prime Minister Alfred Koch, Andrei Illarionov, former advisor to Russian President Vladimir Putin, also by former member of the Russian State Duma who was the only one to vote against the illegal annexation of Crimea from Ukraine Ilya Ponomarev, and the journalist Masha Gesen.
