Lithuania president declines Polish invite

Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite has declined to attend Independence Day celebrations in Poland "due to internal political problems," officials said. Since 2009, Grybauskaite has taken part in Poland's Independence Day celebration; however, this year she will be unable to attend, Polskie Radio reported. Grybauskaite's office said the president declined "due to internal political problems," alluding to the new coalition government in Lithuania formed by last month's elections. The relationship between Poland and Lithuania has also been rocky since 2011, after failed bilateral talks about Polish minority schools in Lithuania. In May, Grybauskaite criticized Poland for pursuing an allegedly pro-Russian policy at the expense of neighboring countries. "For some reason, Polish politicians have decided that in the short run it would be good to have a friend in Russia, and other smaller countries that are not so important can be be sacrificial lambs," she said at a meeting with representatives of America's Lithuanian community in Chicago. "It seems to me that this is the role [envisioned] for us," she added.