LRT English Newsletter – December 29, 2023
Not much has happened in Lithuania this week, with most people enjoying a shorter workweek or even a much-deserved inter-holiday rest. But the same is not true for the year. With 2024 just around the corner, we bring you a roundup of the key events in Lithuania in 2023:
– January. It seems like forever ago, but at the end of January 2023, Lithuania was gripped by the news of Conservative MP Kristijonas Bartoševičius being investigated for sexual abuse of four minors. He announced his resignation from the parliament hours before the news broke. The case is now being heard by the Panevėžys Regional Court, and the former MP is facing years in prison if found guilty.
– February. February 24 marked one year since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. On this grim occasion, a fundraising campaign by Lithuanian NGOs and LRT collected 14 million euros to purchase multi-purpose tactical surveillance radars to monitor Ukraine’s airspace.
– March. In March, residents of Lithuania’s 60 municipalities elected their new mayors and councillors. For us, the highlights of the local elections were Valdas Benkunskas of the conservative Homeland Union–Lithuanian Christian Democrats winning the mayorship of traditionally liberal Vilnius and Visvaldas Matijošaitis securing a third term as Kaunas mayor despite constant grilling for his business ties in Russia.
– April. At the end of April, Lithuanian traveller Aurimas Valujavičius arrived in Florida after crossing the Atlantic Ocean by a single rowing boat in 120 days. Although he didn’t break the world record as initially intended, Valujavičius became only the third person to complete such a journey and quite a celebrity in Lithuania.
– May. The so-called receipts (čekiukai) scandal broke out and developed in Lithuania over May. An investigation into the expense reports unveiled systemic abuses, with municipal councillors claiming unreasonably big reimbursements for transportation and office expenses, often without providing receipts. The scandal even cost the then Education Minister Jurgita Šiugždinienė her post. She resigned over the reports that she received nearly 14,000 euros in reimbursements as a Kaunas councillor.
– June. The first month of summer was rather dry in Lithuania news(and rain)-wise, with the most energy and attention devoted to the NATO summit preparations. But we were still pleased by the German defence minister’s surprise announcement that the German brigade was definitely coming to Lithuania. It followed an almost year-long bickering between the two countries about where the brigade should be deployed.
– July. Perhaps the highlight of the entire year, the Vilnius NATO Summit took place in the Lithuanian capital on July 11-12. Western leaders flocked to Vilnius on their flashy planes to discuss security issues, including the war in Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also made an appearance at the summit but left Vilnius without concrete promises about his country’s future in the alliance. Although historic for Lithuania, which hosted such an event for the first time, the summit failed to become historic in its decisions, according to analysts.
– August. After a failed coup in Russia, some 4,000 Wagner mercenaries relocated to Belarus. This made neighbouring Lithuania, as well as Poland, feel threatened. As a result, in August, Lithuania closed two out of six checkpoints on its border with Belarus. But then Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin perished in a mysterious plane crash, and most of Lithuania’s sense of insecurity fizzled out.
– September. In September, following a clarification from the European Commission, Lithuania banned cars with Russian license plates from entering its territory. Meanwhile, the modernist interwar architecture of Lithuania’s Kaunas was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List.
– October. In October, we were anxiously waiting for something to explode. Luckily, nothing did, but schools and other institutions in Lithuania were flooded with thousands of emails with bomb threats. While parents rushed to take their kids from schools, the country’s intelligence agency said it was a “targeted and coordinated attack carried out at the initiative of hostile states”.
– November. A highly anticipated verdict in one of the most resonant political corruption cases in Lithuania was issued in November. Seven years ago, Eligijus Masiulis, the then leader of the Liberal Movement, was caught with a bribe from Raimondas Kurlianskis, the then vice-president of the business group MG Baltic. The Court of Appeals now sentenced both men, as well as Labour Party MP Vytautas Gapšys, to prison. The verdict was appealed to the Supreme Court.
– December. After concrete promises about the German brigade were made in July, Lithuania sealed the deal in December, as Lithuanian and German defence ministers signed the brigade deployment plan. Under the plan, the brigade’s key deployment will take place between 2025 and 2026, and around 5,000 German soldiers and civilians will arrive in Lithuania.
And that’s a wrap. Thank you for being with us in 2023, and see you in 2024!
Written by Ieva Žvinakytė
Edited by Justinas Šuliokas
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