Neringa Mayor Darius Jasaitis has appealed to Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda and Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė for help, saying that Ukrainians living in the Curonian Spit are at risk of being left homeless.
Turto Bankas (Property Bank), the centralised public property management company, is planning to sell the Medikas holiday home, which houses Ukrainian war refugees, according to Jasaitis.
The mayor is asking the country’s leaders to mediate to ensure that Ukrainian citizens are able to stay in the building for the duration of the war in Ukraine.
He also wants the property to be transferred to municipal ownership or exchanged for other municipal real estate.
The proceeds from the sale of the building are planned to be used for renovating the Pediatric wing of Vilnius University Hospital Santaros Clinics.
“We understand that the proceeds will be used for the development of a sensitive facility, but today we are talking about families who have already endured the hardships of war and the loss of their homes,” the mayor said in his appeal.
The Neringa municipal administration had concluded 82 contracts for the rent of premises in the Medikas holiday home. The building houses mainly women with children.
Turto Bankas, meanwhile, rejects the municipality’s claims that the Ukrainians will be left homeless.
“We urge everyone not to agitate the Ukrainian community in Neringa. Turto Bankas is in direct contact with the people, the lease agreements are being renegotiated and the people will live in Medikas for as long as they need to,” Turto Bankas’ spokesman Karolis Vairkevičius said in a written comment sent to LRT.lt.
“We understand the municipality’s wish to take over the state property, but we disagree with the methods they have chosen, manipulating people affected by the war,” he added.
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