MOSCOW. March 28 (Interfax) - Russia will react to a Lithuanian court's verdict in a case opened into the January 13, 1991 events in Vilnius, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said at a press briefing on Thursday.
"Of course, we won't leave this without a reaction," she said.
When commenting on remarks made by Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite, who called the trial a "face-to-face interrogation with the truth", Zakharova said: "Mrs. Grybauskaite, the truth didn't come to your face-to-face interrogation."
On March 27, a Vilnius court convicted former Soviet Defense Minister Dmitry Yazov and more than 60 former Soviet officials of war crimes and crimes against humanity in connection with the events of January 13, 1991 in Vilnius. Most defendants were tried in absentia. Only two charged Russian citizens were present in the courtroom.
According to the official version of Vilnius, on January 13, 1991, the Soviet authorities attempted to overthrow the legitimate Lithuanian government, which had announced its independence from the USSR on March 11, 1990. Fourteen people were killed and over 1,000 injured as Soviet troops and special forces seized the Vilnius television tower building of the Lithuanian state radio and television broadcaster.
On the day of the trial, Grybauskaite described the pronouncement of the verdict in this case as a "face-to-face interrogation with the truth" and a "day of historic justice."