LRT English Newsletter – May 24, 2024
Are we overly sensitive to anything that comes from Russia? On Wednesday, the Moscow Times reported how a resolution drafted by the Russian Defence Ministry sought to recalculate the country’s maritime borders with Lithuania and Finland.
The news drew fiery reactions from Vilnius. The Foreign Ministry issued a statement, calling the move “escalatory provocation” aimed at intimidation. The foreign minister himself tweeted that this was a “hybrid operation”.
The Finns were much more cool-headed. The prime minister even implicitly reproached Lithuanians for their heated responses, saying “in Finland, we always first investigate the facts in detail and then draw conclusions”.
Russian officials have rejected accusations that this was an attempt to redraw borders. The draft resolution was gone from the government website by the afternoon.
Meanwhile, Lithuania’s defence minister announced plans to install permanent fortifications along the borders with Russia and Belarus. His ministry will also help equip border guards with heavy weapons.
SABOTAGE?
Another speculation that gripped the Lithuanian public this week – is Russia coordinating a series of sabotage acts in the Baltics and Poland? A fire at an IKEA store in Vilnius a few weeks ago may have been arson. Poland’s prime minister announced this week that a group of suspects – Ukrainian, Belarusian, and Polish nationals – were detained on suspicion of being “implicated in the name of Russian services in acts of sabotage”, naming the IKEA fire as one suchinstance.
Last Friday, Lithuania’s safety authorities even warned retail outlets to be vigilant and look out for possible saboteurs. Law enforcement, however, has kept mum about whether any incidents were indeed acts of “sabotage and diversion”.
HOW TO FUND DEFENCE
Everyone seems to agree that Lithuania must spend at least 3 percent of GDP on defence, though not about where to get the money from. Meeting the target would mean raising an additional 400 million euros annually. Consumption levies, profit taxes, or borrowing have been suggested and opposed by different factions.
The Finance Ministry has finally presented concrete suggestions this week: a combination of the corporate tax, fuel tax, and a levy on some insurance contracts, with some money also taken from local governments.
The parliament still has to approve the plan – and finding a balance between the business-friendly liberals and the more socially inclined conservatives may not be easy.
CURIOUS FINDS AND STRIKING IMAGES
The mayor of Vilnius, Valdas Benkunskas, has discovered a “secret tunnel” underneath one of the throughways of the city’s new central business district, sharing photos of the find in a joyful Facebook post.
The mayor’s exuberance soon drew jeers. Older Vilnians – including one of Benkunskas’ predecessors – noted that there’s nothing “secret” about the tunnel – it’s a simple underpass that had been sealed shut sometime in the past, not too distant but definitely before the current administration.
What one won’t do to get some Facebook likes. Other people were sharing “almost apocalyptic” photos of flooded Klaipėda after a massive rainfall, while one photographer captured a double lightning striking Vilnius TV Tower.
ELECTION AHEAD
Two weeks after the first round of Lithuania’s presidential election, voters are going to the polls again this Sunday. This time, the choice is between only two candidates: the incumbent Gitanas Nausėda and Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė. By late Sunday night, we should know who will be the head of the Lithuanian state in the coming five years.
Nausėda, however, makes little effort to hide his expectations to be re-elected. He already shared his vision for a new government make-up after the general elections in October.
EDITOR’S PICKS
– Lithuania’s post-war anti-Soviet guerilla resistance included at least one Ukrainian. He came with the Red Army, was taken prisoner of war by the Nazis, and later joined the “forest brothers”. Little more is known about Ivan Resekovski, but he will now have a monument in the town of Troškūnai.
– After the second attempt to change Lithuania’s constitution and allow dual citizenship failed, a lawyer gives her take on what could be done next.
– Lithuanian nurses are paid the lowest wages in Europe, said an opposition politician recently. Is this really the case?
– Ciongs, Pliorpals, Ripka – these are some of the Samogitian names that people came up with for a dozen baby seals at the Lithuanian Maritime Museum. They had a naming ceremony last weekend.
Written by Justinas Šuliokas
Edited by Ieva Žvinakytė
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