Lithuania’s Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevicius and parliamentary speaker Juozas Olekas resisted calls for an independent inquiry into child sexual abuse within the Catholic Church, BNS reported. Earlier, two local priests were charged with sexual offences against children. Sinkevicius insisted that any investigation was up to Church authorities. Olekas asserted that courts should do their work…
The Latvian parliament, the Saeima, has approved in an extraordinary session an urgent law that allows the state to bail out the country’s ailing national airline, airBaltic, LSM reports. The law, which was rushed through parliament in just one day, will allow the government to acquire around EUR 30mn of more airBaltic bonds. Also, the…
Lithuania’s Culture Minister, Lukas Alsys, called for a systematic shift away from the use of Russian language in public administration, BNS reported. Speaking in an interview with Ziniu Radijas, Alsys stressed that government institutions and municipalities in Lithuania communicated in the state language, Lithuanian. However, the policy of phasing out Russian should take into account…
Latvia’s national airline, airBaltic, will reduce flights from Lithuania in winter 2026/2027, BNS reports. The company will suspend flights from Vilnius to Berlin and Dubai, and from Palanga to Tenerife. Also, airBaltic will have less flights from Vilnius to Tallinn. Edvards Dalderis, spokesman of airBaltic, insisted that the reductions were not related to the company’s…
Lithuania’s first prime minister after the restoration of independence, Kazimira Prunskiene, was laid to rest at Antakalnis Cemetery in Vilnius on 6 August 2026, ELTA reports. Earlier, Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevicius stated that today’s government could draw inspiration from Prunskiene’s commitment to public service and sense of responsibility, LRT reported. Juozas Olekas, speaker of the…
Lithuania is making progress towards normalising relations with communist China, Juozas Olekas, speaker of the Lithuanian parliament, the Seimas, said, BNS reports. Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys said that Lithuania’s position on China remained unchanged, stressing the need for a unified European approach as part of the EU’s common foreign and security policy. He warned that…
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ordered Lithuania to pay damages to a Saudi national who was detained at a secret CIA prison in the country, BNS reports. The court found that the man was held at the so-called black site near Vilnius for more than five months in 2005-2006. The man, who…
Lithuania may impose temporary border controls with Latvia due to a surge in the number of irregular migrants arriving from Belarus via Latvia, Interior Minister Martynas Katelynas warned, LRT reported. He insisted that Lithuania cannot become a “transit country that anyone can pass through” and urged Latvia to take more responsibility for the problem, LRT and BNS…
At their summit in the Turkish capital, Ankara, NATO leaders decided to turn the alliance’s rotating Baltic Air Policing mission into an air defence mission, ERR reported. The change will allow NATO fighter aircraft to respond more rapidly to threats in Baltic airspace. NATO’s air operations centre in Uedem, Germany, will have authority to decide…
