Lithuanian minister of culture resigns after dodging question on Crimea

Following a call by Lithuanian Prime Minister Inga Ruginienė, Minister of Culture Ignotas Adomavičius announced his resignation.

Adomavičius stresses that this decision was driven not by personal mistakes, but by external pressure that, he claims, endangered his family.

“Prime Minister, President, thank you for your trust … The increased pressure on me, my family, when it is dangerous for us to even be on the street, makes me think that the decision has been made, the work has been done, attention has been drawn. Over the past thirty years, culture has become the most important element of the state today,” said Adomavičius.

The situation escalated after an interview with lrytas.lt, where the minister failed to state whether Crimea belonged to Ukraine or Russia, and accused the journalist of “provocation.” For Ruginienė, this incident became the tipping point in calling for his resignation.

“We, as a party, embrace culture, strive to create and develop it, and emphasize even those things that are painful,” Adomavičius said in his speech in Seimas (parliament). “I believe that we will grow a strong and mature culture without ridicule, without violence, without insults, but rather one that is growing, polite, and understanding.”

Adomavičius announced his resignation:

“Today, for the sake of my family’s safety, with the whole community in mind, so as not to destroy the government but to help it continue its work, I am stepping down as minister of culture and will submit my resignation to Inga Ruginienė in the near future.”

From the very beginning, the appointment of Adomavičius was met with resistance from the cultural community. He was accused of lacking experience in this field. Before joining the government, Adomavičius worked briefly as an advisor to the deputy speaker of the Seimas, and before that he was the commercial director of the family business Bravopasta, a pasta manufacturer.

On Sept. 25, 2025, nearly a thousand protesters gathered at Simono Daukanto Square near the presidential palace in Vilnius to oppose the appointment of the new minister of culture. Demonstrators called for the ministry to be led by a qualified professional who can effectively represent their interests. Similar protests were held in Kaunas, Klaipėda, Šiauliai, and Panevėžys.

Former Lithuanian Minister of Culture Šarūnas Birutis called for Russian culture to be separated from politics.

“We understand perfectly well that the Russian people are not the Kremlin. One way or another, they have been our neighbors for millennia and will probably remain our neighbors in the future,” Birutis said.

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Main image: LRT

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