The boy clutches his galosh to his heart and looks up toward the sky. This statue, erected in 2007 in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, represents the French writer Romain Gary (1914-1980) as a child, at the foot of the building where he lived at the turn of the last century. Naturally, the Lithuanian Culture Minister Simonas Kairys welcomed the French press in front of this statue in May, a few months before the start of the Season of Lithuania in France on September 12. However, it was a completely different symbol he wished to draw attention to.

Nearby is an imposing neoclassical building, which until recently was used for Russian theater performances. In September 2022, seven months after Vladimir Putin's troops invaded Ukraine, Kairys renamed it the Old Vilnius Theatre. In the same year, he ordered the removal of Soviet-era military statues. This affront was not well received by the Kremlin.

In February 2024, Kairys found himself, along with several hundred other public figures, the target of a wanted notice from the Russian Interior Ministry, accusing him of hostility toward Russia. "Historians, mayors and judges are all on the list," he said, jaws clenched, in no way intimidated. "By criminalizing us, Russia is showing that it doesn't consider us citizens of a sovereign state. What's happening in Ukraine could happen here." Sandwiched between Belarus and the heavily militarized Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, the small Baltic state with a population of 2.7 million is on high alert, fearing that it could be the next target if Moscow wins the war.

In less gloomy times, the Season of Lithuanian in France would have garnered little media coverage. Who, for that matter, remembers Etonnante Lettonie ("Amazing Latvia"), in 2005, and Estonie Tonique ("Estonia Tonic"), in 2011, cultural and diplomatic initiatives for the other Baltic states? However, the ongoing conflict in Ukraine has elevated Lithuania's status to a hub of resistance against the Kremlin. Everywhere in Vilnius, Ukrainian flags fly proudly from balconies. "Putin, The Hague awaits you," proclaimed a banner unfurled at the top of a skyscraper in the capital, a reference to the arrest warrant issued in March 2023 by the International Criminal Court against the president.

For Lithuania, which aligns itself with the European Union and NATO, both of which it has belonged to for 20 years, sovereignty is not just a military issue. "Culture, too, is a battlefield," said Kairys. Two years after the city of Kaunas was awarded the "European Capital of Culture" label, it has become more critical than ever to drive home the uniqueness that Moscow has always sought to erase. "Take our language. It's one of the oldest in Europe and was banned for 40 years, from 1864 to 1904," said Virginija Vitkiene, the commissioner of this season designed to put Lithuanian culture in the spotlight.

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