Lithuania's top diplomat says buying Russian oil and gas is 'financing war crimes' and urges EU not to be 'an accomplice'

• Lithuania's top diplomat said buying Russian oil and gas is "financing war crimes" in Ukraine.
• Gabrielius Landsbergis urged EU countries not to be "an accomplice" amid evidence of mass killings.

Lithuania's foreign minister urged European countries not to buy Russian oil or gas, warning them not to finance "war crimes" amid the discovery of mass civilian killings in the Ukrainian city of Bucha.

"Russian army of mass murderers retreat from Bucha reveals full scale of atrocities," Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis tweeted on Sunday. "We can only imagine what is going on in other occupied territories."

He added: "No other way arround — buying [Russian] oil&gas is financing war crimes. Dear EU friends, pull the plug. Don't be an accomplice."

Nearly half of Russian gas exports go to European countries, according to the US Energy Information Administration. The US has already said it would ban Russian energy imports amid sweeping economic sanctions.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, meanwhile, threatened last week to stop exporting gas to Europe if countries Russia designated as "unfriendly" — which includes the US, UK, and European Union countries — don't pay in rubles.

Landsbergis is the latest Western leader to slam Russia after hundreds of civilians were found buried in mass graves in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha over the weekend. Ukrainian officials and journalists also recorded corpses throughout the streets after Russian forces retreated from areas near Kyiv that had been occupied for weeks.

United Nations and EU leaders called for investigations into possible war crimes, while the US accused Russia of "atrocities." Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russian forces committed genocide.

On Monday, Landsbergis said Lithuania expelled Russia's ambassador to the country, and said the Lithuanian ambassador to Ukraine would return to Kyiv.