President Dalia Grybauskaitė extended congratulations, on behalf of the Lithuanian people and on her own behalf, to President Karolos Papoulias of the Hellenic Republic on the occasion of Greece's national holiday - Independence Day.

On the eve of the first ever visit by a Chinese President to the European institutions, the EU and China will hold their second round of talks on an EU-China investment agreement on 24-25 March in Brussels. The visit by President Xi Jinping on 31 March is expected to give an impetus to the negotiations.

The Crimea crisis should be treated as a wake-up call to rethink the EU's relations with Russia and its eastern neighbours, warned Martin Schulz. The EP president addressed the European Council at the start of a summit on 20 March, focussing on Ukraine. Mr Schulz called the Crimea crisis "a massive threat to the security system", adding: "People fear the outbreak of a new Cold War."

The European Union added twelve Russians and Ukrainians Thursday to a list of people hit with travel bans and asset freezes over developments in Crimea, EU President Herman Van Rompuy told a press conference.

Twenty eight EU heads of state and government and the Prime Minister of Ukraine, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, signed the political provisions of the Association Agreement in Brussels. The European Union and its Member States also reaffirmed their commitment to sign the remainder of the agreement, which includes the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area.

President Dalia Grybauskaitė has departed for Brussels where she will attend a European Council meeting. The heads of state or government of EU member states will discuss the situation in Ukraine, financial support to this country, and will consider possible sanctions on Russia. In the context of recent developments in Ukraine, the leaders will also talk about measures to reduce the EU's energy dependency. The state of the European economy will be reviewed as well.

Today, March 19, President Dalia Grybauskaitė will meet with the Vice President of the United States of America, Joe Biden.

On 17 March the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Linas Linkevičius attended the EU's Foreign Affairs Council meeting in Brussels, unanimously condemned yesterday's illegal referendum in Crimea on joining Russia and stressed that it was in clear breach of the Ukrainian Constitution. The EU does not recognise this referendum and its outcome.

At the plenary sitting, the Seimas adopted the resolution strongly condemning military aggression by the Russian Federation against Ukraine and the occupation of part of Ukraine's territory. The Resolution on Threats from the Russian Federation to security in Ukraine and across Europe was passed by 82 votes in favour, no votes against and 4 abstentions.

On Thursday in Tokyo, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Linas Linkevicius met with Japan's Minister of Foreign Affairs Fumio Kishida.