Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė will not attend the Sochi Winter Olympics

President Grybauskaitė has explained her decision to not attend the coming Winter Olympic Games as due to the facts that Russia does not respect human rights, acts improperly with Lithuania’s Eastern partners and imposes sanctions on Lithuania. Therefore, she says she sees no political opportunity to travel to Sochi. The leaders of the United States, France, and Germany, as well as the EU Justice Commissioner had already confirmed that they would not be going. The President of Latvia Andris Berzins believes that the boycott is an aspect of the Cold War.