Apartment rental prices in Lithuania are 20% higher than before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, LRT reports. In Vilnius, the rental price of a one-bedroom apartment is around EUR 1,000 or more per month in the city centre, EUR 700-800 in new buildings, and EUR 500 in old buildings. In Kaunas, rents are around EUR…
Lithuania’s Vilnius Regional Administrative Court has upheld an appeal annulling the Lithuanian Migration Department’s (LMD) decision to revoke the permanent residence permit of a Russian citizen on national security grounds, BNS reports. Lithuania’s State Security Department (VSD) found out that the applicant had worked at a prison colony in Sakhalin until 2002. However, the court…
Commercial banks and other credit institutions in Lithuania have paid EUR 56mn in temporary solidarity tax for the second quarter of 2023, according to the Finance Ministry’s preliminary data, BNS reports. Altogether 18 credit institutions made the first quarterly advance payment by the deadline of 31 August 2023. Swedbank paid EUR 25mn, followed by SEB…
Lithuania has asked NATO to increase air defences in the Baltic States, BNS reports. Lithuania’s Deputy Defence Minister, Zilvinas Tomkus, met with the commander of NATO’s Allied Air Command (AIRCOM), General James Hecker, to discuss the issue. Tomkus asked NATO to deploy more assets, including fighter jets and air defence systems, to the region. The…
The Lithuanian government is unlikely to propose amendments to apply the same restrictions on Belarusian citizens as on Russian citizens, Viktorija Cmilyte-Nielsen, speaker of the Lithuanian parliament, the Seimas, announced, BNS reports. Speaking after a meeting of coalition parties, Cmilyte-Nielsen, who chairs the Lithuanian Liberal Movement (LLS), reiterated her position that the restrictions on Belarusians…
Average labour income in Lithuania stood at EUR 1,980 before taxes in the second quarter of 2023, which was up 12.3% from the same period of 2022, according to the State Social Insurance Fund (SoDra), BNS reports. The average monthly net wage amounted to EUR 1,230, which was up 11.2% over a year. The fastest…
Lithuanian commercial banks and other credit institutions are due to pay a total of over EUR 50mn in temporary solidarity tax by 31 August 2023, BNS reports. Banks will have to pay the full tax for 2023 by 15 June 2024. The tax is calculated based on net interest income that exceeds the average income…
Lithuania’s Foreign Ministry has invited the Vatican’s representative in Lithuania for a conversation after Pope Francis gave statements praising Russia, BNS reports. Speaking online to a group of Catholic Russians in Saint Petersburg, Pope Francis said that they were “heirs of the great Mother Russia” and of an “empire of great culture and great humanity.”…
Latvia’s national air carrier, airBaltic, will open flights on eleven new routes in May 2024, including seven from Latvia, two from Estonia, and two from Lithuania, BNS reports. The company will open flights from Riga to Alicante, Chisinau, Ljubljana, Pristina, Skopje, Sofia, and Tirana. Also, airBaltic will open flights from Tallinn to Billund in Denmark…