Lithuania plans to sign a letter of intent to buy Leopard tanks from Germany, Defence Minister Arvydas Anusauskas announced, BNS reports. He noted that the acquisition would require sustainable financial sources. The minister said that the Leopard met the operational requirements best. Lithuania will acquire the tanks to create an army division. The Lithuanian parliament,…
Estonia and Latvia have put their national interests ahead of regional projects in regard to the synchronisation of the Baltic power grids with the contintental European system, Lithuania’s former energy minister, Arvydas Sekmokas, stated. Speaking in an interview with LRT, Sekmokas noted that Estonia seemed to want to postpone the synchronisation project to 2025 and…
Several hundred people gathered in Lithuania’s capital, Vilnius, on 19 July 2023 to protest against plans by local property developer Dobilo Daigas to cut down nine trees in a small green space in the city centre, LRT reports. Dobilo Daigas plans to expand a café on the small square, which is part of the historic…
Lithuania is assembling a coalition of countries to help Ukraine’s demining efforts, Defence Minister Arvydas Anusauskas announced, BNS reports. He said that besides Lithuania, the coalition now included Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, and soon Denmark. The minister invited other countries to join with their instructors and equipment. The demining mission will operate in territories liberated…
The Lithuanian government has nominated Rasa Jankauskaite as the country’s new ambassador to South Africa, BNS reports. If approved by President Gitanas Nauseda, Jankauskaite will assume office as of 1 September 2023. She said that one of her goals was to agree on visa-free travel for Lithuanian citizens to South Africa, which has a large…
Lithuania’s President, Gitanas Nauseda, will propose stricter penalties for crimes against the state, BNS reports. The proposed amendments would introduce life sentences for organising or taking part in a coup. Currently, the maximum penalty for such an offense is 20 years in prison. Also, the president’s proposed legislation would introduce longer prison terms for being…
A leak of alleged security details of NATO’s summit in Lithuania’s capital, Vilnius, was linked to a breach of Lithuanian government IT systems, the National Crisis Management Centre (NKVC) announced, BNS reports. NKVC director Vilmantas Vitkauskas said that the seriousness of the incident was “likely to be greater than initially thought.” The government chancellery has…
Sanctioned luxury cars are being shipped from EU countries to Russia via Lithuania, LRT’s investigation revealed. The luxury cars are usually purchased in Denmark or Germany and then transported to Russia via Lithuania and Belarus. Russian car dealers are openly advertising the transit route via Lithuania and Belarus. In 2022, the EU banned the sale…
Lithuanians are slightly more confident about the country’s economy, according to the latest Eurobarometer poll conducted in June 2023, BNS reports. The survey showed that 56% of respondents regarded the economic situation as bad, which was down 3 percentage points from January-February 2023. By contrast, around 41% of Lithuanians said that the country’s economy was…
