The Ministry of Foreign Affairs completed the investigation into the names of the ambassadors that were made public: no illegal actions were detected

Dainius Labutis / ELTA photo.

“During the investigation, no illegal actions of MFA employees were found, which would allow us to establish a possible violation of the requirements for the protection of classified information and (or) illegal disclosure in the public space,” the press representative of Minister Gabrieliaus Landsbergis, Paulina Levickytė, said in a comment to Elta.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announces the results of this investigation after informing the Department of State Security (VSD), from which it received an order to conduct an internal inspection. It is noted that part of the circumstances and materials examined during the investigation are of limited use and therefore cannot be made public.

The Ministry also indicates that it has submitted recommendations on how to improve the legal regulation related to the confidentiality of ambassadors’ names. It is suggested that a classified document on specific candidates for diplomatic representatives and their expected places of appointment be prepared before the candidates for ambassadors are discussed with the president and the prime minister.

At the end of January, Minister G. Landsbergis announced that an internal investigation is underway at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. At that time, the head of the country’s diplomacy did not specify exactly what the inspection covered, but noted that it was also about the names that appeared in the press and the statements of some politicians.

ELTA reminds that at the end of last year, when friction between the Presidency and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs regarding the appointment of an ambassador to Poland came to the public domain, information about possible candidates for this post appeared in the press – the names of diplomats Giedrius Puodžiūnas and Laimonas Tallat-Kelpšas were named. Later, the head of the country Gitanas Nausėda indicated a couple more diplomats who, according to him, took part in the selection for the heads of the diplomatic mission in Warsaw – these, according to G. Nausėda, are diplomats Petras Zapolskas and Kęstutis Kudzmanas.

Due to this decision of the president, conservative Matas Maldeikis appealed to the Department of State Security (VSD) and the Coordination Commission for the Protection of Secrets (PAKK), asking them to assess whether the head of the country did not disclose an official secret. In response to this appeal, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications commissioned the Ministry of Internal Affairs to conduct an internal investigation.