There is a controversy brewing between Russia and Lithuania over a pro-Chechen web site that offers a $20 million reward for the capture of Russian President Vladimir Putin. It started when someone in Russia noticed the web site and contacted the Russian government to complain. The Lithuanian Ambassador to Russia was summoned to the Russian Foreign Minister’s office on Monday and requested that the web site be taken down.
The Ambassador relayed the request to his government and got a response that Lithuania couldn’t do that without court authorization, saying that it would also be unconstitutional.
The web site article accused Putin, a Russian citizen who is “currently acting as President of the Russian Federation” of war crimes and genocide. That’s the same language found in the indictment of Slobodan Milosovitch, former President of Yugoslavia and accused war criminal who is currently on trial in the Hague. Very clever way of linking the two leaders.
There’s no way to tell what is fact and fiction. The Russians are furious over the accusations and are putting pressure on Lithuania to remove the web site. This is part of the Kremlin's new hard-line policy toward Chechnya.
Here’s the web site and the story.
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