Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda was not aware during the nomination phase of the fact that Chief of Defence General Valdemaras Rupšys had studied in Russia, the presidential office has said.
However, the president’s opinion of the general is based on his service to Lithuania, it stressed.
“The Defence Ministry did not provide this information when nominating him to the president. The president was informed about Rupšys’ studies later,” the presidential office told BNS. “The president’s opinion of the chief of defence is based on more than 30 years of Rupšys’ service to Lithuania.”
Rupšys was nominated for chief of defence in 2019 by the then Defence Minister Raimundas Karoblis. Later, Nausėda presented him as a candidate to the Seimas, and the latter gave its final approval.
Rupšys had concealed the fact that he studied at the Novocherkassk Higher Military School in 1985-1989, the alfa.lt news website reported.
Laurynas Kasčiūnas, chairman of the parliamentary Committee on National Security and Defence, also says he was not unaware of this fact.
“In 2019, when the procedure for the appointment of the chief of defence was underway, the committee considered him, but we were not aware of such a fact, and there was no such fact mentioned in the resume,” the MP told BNS.
“I think such a fact should have been mentioned. I really don’t think it would have affected the outcome of the vote, but there should be no grey areas in the biographies of people in such positions because it can make them vulnerable,” he added.
The Armed Forces say Rupšys never graduated from the Novocherkassk Higher School and left it by his own choice.
Without naming anyone specifically, Defence Minister Arvydas Anušauskas posted on his Facebook account that the people who built the Lithuanian national defence system in the 1990s are now being unfairly vilified by those who do not understand the circumstances of the time.
Rupšys gave his oath of allegiance to the State of Lithuania on November 11, 1990, when he joined the National Defence System. At that time, Lithuania had not yet received international recognition after it restored independence.
According to the Constitution, the chief of defence is appointed and dismissed by the president with parliamentary approval.
Newsletter
Every Friday morning.
