The 2022 edition of World Press Freedom Index published by the Paris-based nonprofit this week compared the level of press freedom enjoyed by journalists in 180 countries and territories. Lithuania scored 84.14/100 and ranked ninth.
"It is amazing, considering that the country has banned almost all Russian channels and the remaining few find themselves under constant pressure of local security agencies and Russia-hating politicians," the diplomatic mission said.
It accused Lithuanian mainstream media of a cookie-cutter approach to covering the Ukrainian crisis and jailing Lithuanian journalist and opposition politician Algirdas Paleckis on accusations of spying for Russia.
Separately, the Russian ambassador to neighboring Estonia was summoned to the Foreign Ministry on Friday for upsetting top Estonian diplomat Eva-Maria Liimets with similar criticism of her country’s press freedom ranking. The embassy said mass closures of Russian channels proved Reporters Without Borders wrong.