Russian President Vladimir Putin may cause Europe to descend into another war, one of the leaders of the movement for Lithuania’s independence from the Soviet Union, Vytautas Landsbergis, said in an interview with French news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Wednesday, the BBC has reported.
According to Landsbergis, there is a distinction between modern Russia and the country that exisited under the presidency of former Russian President Boris Yeltsin.
"This era was unique. Russia did not want to be an aggressive empire ... Yeltsin treated our freedom with respect," Landsbergis said.
"The democratic world still does not realize the changes that have happened over the 15 years of Vladimir Putin's presidency,” he said.
“From 2000, history should recognize a new period called ‘the Putin Wars.’ And this is only the beginning."
As reported earlier, on March 11 Lithuania celebrates the 25th anniversary of the restoration of independence, Baltic news portal Delfi.lt has reported.
On that date in 1990, the Supreme Council or the Recovery Sejm of Lithuania headed by Landsbergis proclaimed an act for the restoration of the independence of Lithuania, which stated that the sovereign authority of Lithuania of 1940 had to be restored. Until 1940, Lithuania was a sovereign state, after which it was incorporated and occupied by the Soviet Union.
The country received international recognition in 1991, with Iceland first to recognize Lithuania’s independence.
