News

The Honorary Consul of Lithuania in Luhansk Mykola  Zelenets has been awarded posthumously "The Diplomacy Star", the Medal of Honor of the Foreign Ministry of the Republic of Lithuania. The Medal was awarded for fostering Lithuanian-Ukrainian bilateral relations and for active work in strengthening bilateral cooperation. 

Ukrainian businessman Mykola Zelents was appointed Honorary Consul of Lithuania in June this year. The Honorary Consul designated actively cooperated with the Embassy of Lithuania in Ukraine, supported bilateral cultural and business events. Despite the warnings about a dangerous situation and challenging circumstances in the region Mykola Zelenets was ready to open the Honorary Consulate of the Republic of Lithuania, to hoist the Lithuania’s flag and to seek that the crisis in the region should be resolved through diplomatic means.

At the end of August Mykola Zelenec was kidnapped and murdered by the unknown people in the Luhansk region.

Condolences over the tragic death of the Consul were extended by the United States Department of State, the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton, Heads and Foreign Ministers of the European Union Member States, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, the Chairman-in-Office of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs got in touch with the members of the family of the murdered Honorary Consul and discussed possible help to the family.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs once again notes the unstable situation in some of the regions of Eastern Ukraine due to the activities of Russia's backed seperatists. The Ministry recommends the citizens of Lithuania to abstain from travelling to the Autonomous Region of Ukraine Crimea, the Doneck and Luhansk regions.