Linas Linkevicius: Our Stance On Belarusian NPP Issue Is Categorical And Firm

Unknown hackers attacked the website of the Foreign Affairs Ministry of Lithuania on Wednesday. As a result of the cyberattack the website stopped functioning.

Linas Linkevicius, the head of the Foreign Affairs Ministry, comments on the situation and answers several other questions of charter97.org reporter in Vilnius.

– Do you have any idea why the website had been attacked, and what stands behind this attack?

– We have only assumptions so far. The website had been attacked for the third month in the last several months. We were attacked after we announced the Savchenko List, next time we were attacked after the World Congress of Tatars started in the Seimas of Lithuania, during which a lot was told about the situation of Crimean Tatars. However, not only ours website, but the site of the Seimas was attacked then.

– Could it be a group of hackers who perform an order of the Kremlin?

– It is quite possible. As I have said already, after any active moves of Lithuania, which caused disapproval on the part of Moscow, our websites were hacked. It is strange, is it a coincidence or actually not?

– Recently the Seimas of Lithuania takes a critical stand on the construction of a nuclear power plant in Astravets by Belarusian authorities.

– We are active in the international arena on this issue, and notably, we are working not only with our regional partners, but we also cooperate with the European commission. We keep on repeating our critical arguments to the Belarusian side. Alongside with safety requirements and international standards, we are firmly set to clear up the question of safety of the site chosen for construction of the nuclear power plant in Belarus.

We also demand to create an international group of experts, which would closely follow the process of the NPP construction. In addition to that, we are pushing for the NPP construction to meet international standards and norms. We would not agree to yield or would not agree to any compromises in this question – our stand is categorical and firm.

– What was Russia’s reaction to the Savchenko List?

– For today relations with Russia are full of tensions anyway. So I would not say there have been any particular reaction to the Savchenko List.