In July, two parents took their children from a care home and attempted to flee to Belarus before they were arrested on August 1. According to Lithuania’s intelligence service, the State Security Department (VSD), the family had identified themselves as “the so-called sovereigns”.
The children were taken into foster care in June after threats to the children’s well-being, according to a representative of the State Child Protection and Adoption Service. The father, Mindaugas Vilčinskas, previously said he had renounced his Lithuanian citizenship, calling himself a “free, living person”. He also said that his family did not have any identity documents.
Further reading
In a Facebook post last week, the VSD described the sovereign movement as an “anti-state extremist ideology that denies the legitimacy of the state”, adding that several hundred people identify themselves as members of the movement, and a few dozen of them consider themselves citizens of the USSR.
However, the movement itself draws its roots in mid-20th century America.
“The sovereign, or free man, sovereign citizen variant first emerged 50 years ago in the United States. Some US citizens started to claim that they are not American citizens but individual people and therefore subject to international maritime law,” Alfredas Buiko, a researcher at Vilnius University and a religious studies scholar, said in 2021.
In Lithuania, the ranks of sovereigns grew during the Covid pandemic, when they called on people to resist quarantine and pandemic restrictions.
Formally, the pandemic-era cluster of sovereigns was an offshoot of the Krishna Consciousness Movement – Vaishnavism, popularly known as Krishnaites. The actual Krishnaite organisation in Lithuania has distanced itself from them.
A large chunk of this new movement’s followers unite around Žilvinas Užkuraitis, who calls himself an ayurvedic nutritionist and is the founder of the Naujieji Lažai Community in Kėdainiai District, central Lithuania. The community issues its alternative passports, IDs, birth certificates, and even car licence plates.
However, the group eventually became associated with a cluster of pro-Kremlin initiatives, according to 2022 research by the LRT Investigation Team. Moving beyond its pandemic-era slogans, part of the movement began showing their pro-Russian and Belarusian sympathies.
Further reading
Some sovereigns in Lithuania “publicly express nostalgia for the Soviet era, pay homage to monuments to Soviet soldiers, have previously collaborated with pro-Kremlin propagandists in Lithuania, have travelled to Belarus to ‘improve’ bilateral relations, and have spoken positively about the [Minsk] regime”, according to the VSD, Lithuania's intelligence service.
Užkuraitis, his son Adas Užkuraitis, and another associate, “life coach” Gintaras Lunskis, were in the self-appointed “citizen delegation” that went to Minsk on May 9 last year and met with the authoritarian Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko. According to Lunskis, the Lithuanian government is deliberately trying to provoke war with neighbouring countries.
Other members of the delegation are linked to the former politician Algirdas Paleckis, who has recently been convicted of spying for Russia, and his unofficial party, Tesingumo Aušra (the Dawn of Justice).
The activity of sovereigns intensified in the summer of 2021. On June 5, Užkuraitis organised the so-called Sovereigns World Congress (Pasaulinis Suverenų Kongresas). Figures linked to a pro-Kremlin disinformation network in Lithuania took part in the event.
Other groups that are part of the sovereigns movement include the Sarmatų Ainiai community formed in December 2020 and led by songwriter and singer Dainius Babonas.
Babonas manages the website “Sobjektīvus Pamėslėjimā” and the YouTube channel Žmogus (Human). He also takes part in the activities of Soviet Afghan war veterans and in gatherings where participants wear Russian symbols and Georgian ribbons.
In another branch of the movement, Arvydas Balčius, who unsuccessfully ran in the 2020 parliamentary elections with a fringe party Drąsios Kelias, identifies himself as the head of the so-called Pasaulio Suverenių Žmonių Valstybių Organizacija (World Organisation of Sovereign People's States). He founded a legal association Kompleksinė Ergonteisinė Parama (Complex Ergonlegal Support). Through this association, he raises funds to support his other organisation, Pasaulinės Taikos Grupė Lietuvoje (Global Peace Group Lithuania).
Balčius claims to be fighting against the “Washington Landsbergists”, does not recognise Lithuania’s independence restoration act of March 11, 1990, and publishes “alternative truth” about the violent Soviet crackdown on January 13, 1991, in Vilnius.
Visits from Moscow
Nikolai Burov, the self-proclaimed president of the “sovereign state”, also makes occasional appearances on alternative media channels in Lithuania that spin pro-Kremlin narratives. He was born in Belarus, graduated from the Academy of Public Administration under the auspices of the President of Belarus, but lives in Russia.
Burov claims to be the leader of the “sovereign world”. His so-called Union of Sovereigns was established in 2018, claiming to have its own government, army, bank, and foundation. He also invites the members to come for a holiday in Sochi in Russia. Burov also has followers in Lithuania, communicating on the Telegram platform and the Russian social media network VK.
Užkuraitis, head of the major sovereigns’ group, previously invited Burov to deliver lectures in various Lithuanian towns, telling LRT.lt in 2022 that he “has a very impressive legal knowledge [and] people are interested”.
Vilčinskai family and sovereigns
Although Lithuanian authorities said the parents of the children were part of the sovereigns' movement, it’s unclear whether they are linked to the branch started by Užkuraitis.
On July 28, Užkuraitis denied his movement had been in any way connected with the Vilčinskai family. “On what grounds do you claim that they consider themselves sovereigns?” he said, adding the father only identified himself as “a human” online.
Inga and Mindaugas Vilčinskai previously published their beliefs on the website Lietuvis.org. Although Užkuraitis denied the family had been part of the sovereign movement, their language and opinions mirror those of the sovereigns.
“They are independent. I called them when their children were taken, but they [refused help], saying they are going on their own path,” he told an LRT RADIO programme.
On Tuesday and after the family’s arrest, Užkuraitis published on Facebook an image of the parents and their three children, which he admitted was AI-generated, claiming they had in fact reached Belarus.
An audio recording featuring warped voices was published alongside the image, claiming that the official version of the events was a lie and that the family was now in Belarus.
Edited by Benas Gerdžiūnas.
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