LRT English Newsletter – August 19, 2022
Lithuania, together with the other Baltic states, reached a record-high price of electricity on Wednesday evening. Although the price shock was unlikely to affect you (ie most consumers), it took a hit on businesses and industries.
So what’s happening?
Experts say the high price of gas, which is used in electricity generation, was partly to blame, as was the heatwave, which forced the country to limit the loads on its network. Finally, the algorithm used to calculate prices in the Nord Pool market was also criticised by Lithuanian officials.
This also follows the earlier bombshell news of Perlas Energija, an independent electricity provider, unilaterally cancelling contracts with thousands of households before announcing it would be suspending its operations. The government now said it will partially compensate those affected.
The prime minister and the president have now agreed that protecting consumers is the state’s top priority. Meanwhile, two additional power plants were activated this week.
Seeing the times now, giving up nuclear energy was a mistake, said a Lithuanian official. A planned nuclear plant, which failed to get support in a referendum several years ago, was due to begin operating in 2022 (assuming everything would have gone right in the construction process). Lithuania’s sole nuclear plant, the Ignalina NPP, was closed as a precondition for the country to join the EU, as it was considered unsafe – being the same reactor type as Chernobyl.
Coupled with the energy prices, are the pandemic subsidies also to blame for the inflation? According to Jeffrey Sommers, professor of political economy at the University of Milwaukee in the US, the answer is no. Inflation seems to be higher in countries bordering Russia and Ukraine, potentially showing more side-effects of the war, he says.
RUSSIAN TOURISTS OUT
Estonia has now banned Russian tourists holding a Schengen visa issued by the country from crossing its borders. Admittingly, the checks will only be enforced on the border with Russia, while the visa-holders already in the country or holding one issued by another Schengen zone state will be able to stay.
Lithuania’s officials have previously called on the EU to ban Russian tourists from the bloc entirely. So far, only the Baltic states and the Czech Republic have stopped issuing tourist visas to Russian nationals, while Finland has imposed a quote of 100 per day.
Tallinn and Vilnius also say the ban needs to be EU-wide. However, the chances for that to happen are slim, as Baltic officials admit themselves.
One tourist site in Lithuania went a step further by banning Russian visitors. “We don’t want their money, which is stained with Ukrainian blood,” Giedrius Klimkevičius, head of the manor house, told LRT RADIO. However, no other businesses have joined in, with the industry reps saying the move is unnecessary (even though they allegedly support it).
In another attempt to make the Russian society aware of the war in Ukraine, a radio in Lithuania will start blasting a Russian-language news programme into the country. The signal will allegedly be picked up as far as Kazakhstan.
CHINA SANCTIONS
Beijing has imposed sanctions on Lithuania’s deputy transport minister and allegedly halted all cooperation with the country’s transport sector. According to Vilnius officials, however, they have not been officially informed about it.
They come in response to the Taiwan visit by Lithuania’s deputy transport minister, Agnė Vaiciukevičiūtė. President Gitanas Nausėda and other state leaders have decried the “groundless” sanctions, while the Foreign Ministry has summoned China’s top diplomat in the country, Qu Baihua, in protest.
Meanwhile, an adviser to the prime minister has been put forth to lead the Lithuanian office in Taipei.
EDITOR'S PICKS:
– New Lithuanian ambassadors to the Vatican and the United Kingdom are due to be announced.
– The minimum wage in Lithuania is set to rise at least 15 percent, an MP has assured.
– In August 2020, myself and another Lithuanian journalist spent a week in Belarus, witnessing the days that would prove a breaking point – for Belarus, for us in Lithuania, and, finally, for Ukraine. This is what we saw on those summer days.
– Snaigė has always been one of the flagship brands of Lithuanian manufacturing. But after being taken over by Russian firms linked to Moscow oligarchs, it has been run to the ground, stripped of funds and used as a lifeline for sanctions-hit businesses in Moscow, LRT Investigation Team reports.
– The first shipment of Ukrainian sunflower oil has left Lithuania’s port of Klaipėda.
– Lithuanian Orthodox Church says it condemns Russia’s war in Ukraine and is seeking greater autonomy from the Moscow Patriarchate. “We pray for Putin and for God to give him reason,” Amvrosijus, Vicar of the Lithuanian Orthodox Archdiocese and Bishop of Trakai, told LRT TV.
– From now on, if you have tested positive for the coronavirus using a rapid test at home, you will only have to send a picture of it to your GP. The coronavirus diagnosis will then be added to your eSveikata (eHealth) record.
– The Russian military in Ukraine suffered a severe blow last week in Crimea, sparking enthusiasm that the tide in the war might be turning. Lithuania’s former chief of defence, Lieutenant General Valdas Tutkus, says such optimism might be premature.
– Following the successful campaign in Lithuania, Latvia has begun a fundraiser to buy a Turkish Bayraktar drone to hand it over to Ukraine.
– Here are some key takeaways from a Washington Post investigation on how the United States struggled to convince allies of an imminent war – and how only the Brits and Baltics were onboard with the assessment.
– And a match-fixing scandal arrives in Lithuania.
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Written by Benas Gerdžiūnas
Edited by Ieva Žvinakytė
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