LRT English Newsletter – August 25, 2023
With Russian mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin supposedly eliminated in a plane crash, Lithuanian officials may breathe a sigh of relief. At least for now.
Over the past weeks, institutions in Lithuania have been on their toes over reports that some 4,500 Wagner mercenaries have relocated to neighbouring Belarus following their failed coup in Russia. Some of them were allegedly stationed close to Lithuanian and Polish borders.
Citing security concerns, Lithuania closed two out of six checkpoints on its border with Belarus last week. Lithuanians have also been repeatedly told not to travel to Belarus for they may become easy prey for recruiters working for Lukashenko’s special services. Not all, however, took heed of the warnings.
It is still too soon to tell what will happen to Wagner after Prigozhin’s demise. According to the Lithuanian political analyst, Marius Laurinavičius, the mercenary group “is no more” without its leadership. “Since its leadership has been destroyed, this means that Russia has decided to destroy Wagner,” he told LRT RADIO.
Meanwhile, Laurynas Kasčiūnas, chair of the Parliamentary Committee on National Security and Defence (NSGK), thinks that the internal power struggle will divert Wagner’s attention away from external affairs, including Lithuania and Poland.
For now, however, “the geopolitical and security situation on the border with Belarus has not changed and threats to national security remain”, the Interior Ministry told LRT.lt. “The decision to close two of the six border checkpoints remains in place.”
SPY UNDER COVER?
“Send me to Belarus and see what happens,” said Belarusian opposition activist, Olga Karach, who lives in Lithuania, after the State Security Department (VSD) found her to be “working with the Russian intelligence services”.
According to the VSD, Karach visited Russia between 2015 and 2019 to meet with Russian intelligence officers and handed over documents containing information about the representatives of the Belarusian regime and opposition.
Karach was denied asylum in Lithuania, although she was issued a temporary residence permit on humanitarian grounds, as sending the activist back to Belarus would put her life at risk, the Migration Department concluded. The NGO Nash Dom (Our House), headed by Karach, has been declared extremist and terrorist by Lukashenko’s regime.
The activist herself has staunchly denied all the allegations by the VSD, saying that her meetings with FSB or KGB agents in Russia may have been purely accidental and she was not aware of them.
TIME TO WITHDRAW?
Defence Minister Arvydas Anušauskas cannot seem to keep his hands away from Facebook. Just weeks after getting into trouble for disclosing on social media information about Lithuania’s plans to acquire German Leopard tanks, he expressed hope in Facebook comments that Lithuania would withdraw from the Convention on Cluster Munitions.
The withdrawal from the agreement that bans the use and transfer of weapons considered dangerous to civilians would allow Lithuania to acquire cluster bombs, he said. The above-mentioned NSGK chair Kasčiūnas applauded the ministers’ statement, saying that Lithuania “needs to keep all the elements of combat power”, given that its enemy – Russia – actively uses cluster munitions. Others, however, believe that the move would be complicated and raise eyebrows among some of Lithuania’s allies.
TEACHERS’ STRIKE
Lithuania is bracing for another big strike. Last December, Vilnius public transport workers went on strike for several weeks, demanding better working conditions and higher pay. This time, it is Lithuanian teachers who are asking for the same. As the new academic year is just around the corner, school teachers warned they will walk out on September 15 and then again on September 29 if their demands are not met.
EDITOR’S PICKS:
– On August 23, it was 34 years since 2 million Lithuanians, Latvians, and Estonians joined hands to demand freedom for the Baltic states in what became known as the Baltic Way. Here’s a story on how a group of Lithuanian mountaineers called a peak in the Kyrgyzstan mountains after this historical event.
– The campaign advertising the new season of the Lithuanian National Drama Theatre (LNDT) says: “Don’t go to the theatre” (“Neik į teatrą”). While some congratulate the bravery of the campaign, others say it harms the entire theatre field in Lithuania.
– The construction of the European-gauge railway track Rail Baltica may require knocking down 52 residential houses near Panevėžys in northern Lithuania. The residents, however, ask the government to reconsider.
– Netflix’s Paradise, a sci-fi love story set in a dystopian future, is one of the biggest projects shot in Lithuania in recent years.
– Some guides taking tourists around the Lithuanian capital may be working illegally: not paying their taxes or telling nonsense about Vilnius.
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Written by Ieva Žvinakytė
Edited by Justinas Šuliokas
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