The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania announces that, as the situation in Kazakhstan is stabilising, the VFS Global Visa Application Centers in Nur-Sultan and Almaty will resume to work on 13 January and will provide a full range of consular services to Lithuanian citizens.

In view of the unrest in some cities in Kazakhstan, which has escalated into protests and clashes with the police, as well as the imposition of a state of emergency and a curfew until 19 January, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs strongly recommends not travelling to Kazakhstan.

On 7 January, Foreign Vice-Minister Egidijus Meilūnas will participate in an extraordinary remote meeting of NATO Foreign Ministers.

Today, on 2 January, 98 Iraqi citizens left Lithuania for Iraq on a charter flight, volunteering to return to their homeland. This is the first charter flight from Lithuania to return people who crossed the Lithuanian border illegally to their country of origin because they have not been granted asylum.

On 29 December a solemn ceremony of the Global Lithuanian Awards was held at St. Catherine's Church, during which the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Arnoldas Pranckevičius announced the 2021 winner of the Global Lithuanian Lifetime Achievement Award.

In its response to the informal Arria Formula meeting of the UN Security Council being held today, on 22 December in New York and convened by Russia to discuss "the situation of ethnic minorities and the glorification of Nazism in the Baltic and Black sea region", the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania states that Lithuania sees this event as yet another effort to spread a false narrative about neighboring countries for political ends and as yet another attempt by Russia to divert the attention of the international community from the deteriorating human rights situation in Russia and from the military escalation at Ukraine’s borders. Russia's repeated attempts to manipulate UN Security Council formulas for disinformation purposes have been condemned in a statement by like-minded members of the UN Security Council and European Union member states and others, to which Lithuania has joined.

On 20 December, the Chancellor of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Inga Černiuk and the Rector of Vilnius University, Prof Dr Rimvydas Petrauskas signed a cooperation agreement between the Foreign Ministry and Vilnius University.

On 16 December, the Chancellor of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Inga Černiuk and the Commandant of the General Jonas Žemaitis Military Academy of Lithuania, Col Juozas Kačergius signed a cooperation agreement between the Foreign Ministry and the Military Academy.

On 15 December, Lithuania took the floor in the Interactive Dialogue with the United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights Ms Nada Al Nashif on the human rights situation in Ukraine.