VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — Lithuania says Walmart has agreed to remove shirts with Soviet emblems from its online shop after three Baltic countries complained about the clothing.
Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania were forcibly annexed by Moscow in 1940 and remained part of the Soviet Union until its collapse in 1991, except for a brief occupation by Nazi Germany 1941-1944.
Lithuania has been taking a particularly hard line against its communist-era legacy, banning all Soviet symbols as well as Nazi ones.
Lithuanian foreign minister spokeswoman Rasa Jakilaitiene told The Associated Press on Tuesday the country’s foreign ministry “received a letter from Walmart this week confirming that these items would be removed from sales.”
Jakilaitiene said Lithuania would ask that items with Soviet symbols be removed from Amazon.com, too.
