Lithuania has recalled its military attaché to Moscow after he married a woman from Crimea, the Novaya Gazeta newspaper reported Tuesday.
A Lithuanian government spokesperson told the newspaper that the recall was made “by mutual consent, in light of marital changes.”
Lithuania's Defense Minister, Juozas Olekas said that the country's military attaché to Moscow, Saulius Pikturna, divorced his Lithuanian wife following his appointment in July. The next month he married a woman from Crimea, a Ukrainian territory annexed by Russia in 2014.
Olekas officially announced Pikturna’s recall at a Lithuanian parliamentary session on Tuesday. In addition, it was announced that the country's investigative department had been commissioned to look into the matter.
Pikturna's Crimean wife was a Ukrainian citizen who later acquired Russian citizenship, Lithuania's Delfi news website earlier reported.
Whilst in Lithuania, Pikturna submitted his wife's citizenship by using her Ukrainian passport. However, authorities in Moscow informed him that she did no require assistance since she was a citizen from Crimea.
Pikturna has since been transferred to the Defense Ministry and the selection process for a new military attaché is underway, the ministry said in a statement.
