Lithuania’s Foreign Ministry launches investigation into information disclosure

On the instructions of the State Security Department (VSD), Lithuania’s Foreign Ministry has launched an official investigation into the disclosure of confidential or restricted information during the process of coordination of ambassador nominations, Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis has said.

“We have been instructed by the VSD to launch an investigation. We have launched an investigation into the disclosure of names and how the names appear in the public domain,” Landsbergis told reporters on Monday after a meeting of the parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs.

According to the minister, the public disclosure of ambassadorial candidates under consideration is not only detrimental to the state but also to the people involved.

“Putting their names out there is bad for those people. Later on, those people ask not to be mentioned, they don’t want to participate in the competitions, and some of them talk about leaving the system because they don’t want to become a ping-pong ball between politicians who disagree with each other,” Landsbergis said.

Gabrielius Landsbergis | D. Umbraso / LRT nuotr.

According to the minister, inquiries have been sent to institutions as part of the investigation, and internal checks are also being carried out at the ministry.

The names of several diplomats considered for the position of Lithuania’s ambassador to Poland have been mentioned in public recently.

Landsbergis earlier indirectly confirmed that President Gitanas Nausėda had rejected Giedrius Puodžiūnas, an experienced diplomat, as a candidate for the post. The president himself also named some other diplomats who took part in the competition.

The position of Lithuania’s ambassador to Poland has been vacant since early September when Eduardas Borisovas was recalled after his term of office expired. The embassy is currently headed by Minister Plenipotentiary Audronė Markevičienė.

The foreign minister claimed earlier he had proposed a candidate for this position as early as the fall of 2022, but Nausėda rejected the candidacy.

In Lithuania, ambassadors are appointed by the president on the nomination of the government, with the approval of the parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs.