Russia's State Duma has suggested cancelling Lithuania's independence from the Soviet Union (USSR) as the war in Ukraine rages on.
Nearly 31 years after Lithuania declared itself independent from the Soviet Union, the lower house of Russia's parliament, known as the Duma, has received a bill calling for the cancellation of the USSR's acknowledgement of Lithuanian independence, Russian state news agency TASS reported.
Bill author Yevgeny Fedorov, the Duma's deputy, said the resolution to recognise Lithuanian independence was "illegal" because it violated the USSR constitution's obligations.
"The law of the USSR was also violated… On the procedure for resolving issues related to the secession of a union republic from the USSR," the bill said, as reported by TASS.
Fedorov said Russia was "the legal successor of the USSR on its territory" and Lithuania was, therefore, liable for independence abolition, state media said.
Lithuania proclaimed independence in March 1990, becoming the first Soviet republic to do so. Moscow subsequently tried to foil the secession with an economic blockade which proved ineffective.
Lithuania's independence was finally acknowledged by the Soviet parliament in September 1991, before the USSR fully dissolved in December.
The latest bill submission comes nearly four months into Russia's war in Ukraine, another ex-USSR state. Russia claims it's a "special military operation" and not an invasion.
Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin, also told state media "we are not aware of such an initiative" to retract Lithuania's independence recognition.
