LRT English Newsletter – March 28, 2025
Search and rescue efforts have entered the third day after four American soldiers went missing with an armoured vehicle during a military exercise in eastern Lithuania. The vehicle was located on the second day, submerged deep in muddy water.
What has been revealed so far is that the four Americans are young soldiers who have spent two months in Lithuania. There was some confusion about their fate: NATO chief Mark Rutte prematurely blurted that they were killed, while the Lithuanian Armed Forces maintained there was no evidence for that and that the search continued. Their death cannot be confirmed until rescuers pull out the vehicle and look inside. This presents great technical difficulties – the marshy area is inaccessible to heavy equipment and requires considerable reinforcement and dredging.
The incident comes at a time when Europe is uneasy about the US possibly scaling down its military presence on the continent. Lithuanian leaders rushed to reassure that the likely deaths of four Americans would not affect the transatlantic relations – but it remains to be seen if it may affect public sentiment across the ocean.
COALITION OF THE SCEPTICAL
Meanwhile, the Lithuanian president joined European leaders in Paris where the “coalition of the willing” discussed ways to support Ukraine. While Emmanuel Macron, the host, conceded on Thursday that not all the countries agree on what exactly to do, what they share is scepticism about the US initiative to broker a ceasefire and eventually an end to the war between Ukraine and Russia.
Before the Paris summit, Gitanas Nausėda argued that Russia was disingenuous and only playing for time, a line echoed by UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Paris. After Moscow has hinted that it expects some sanction relief as part of the partial ceasefire deal, Europeans keep insisting sanctions will stay until the Russians’ unconditional withdrawal from Ukraine. That is very much Lithuania’s line, too.
PLANE CRASH SUSPECT
Lithuanian prosecutors have concluded that it was the pilot’s error that caused a DHL cargo plane to crash near Vilnius Airport last November. The pilot, a Spanish national, may have failed to enable the hydraulic system to deploy the flaps, according to the investigators who have named him the suspect in the case. They have asked Spanish authorities to question the pilot.
SUBSIDIES FOR OIL REFINERY
Poland’s Orlen is implementing massive upgrades to its refinery in Mažeikiai, northern Lithuania. The “unique” billion-euro project has not avoided delays and cost overruns, so the company is asking for support from the Lithuanian government. It has agreed to subsidies – in the form of corporate tax breaks, compensation for indirect costs of emission permits, and investment in infrastructure – of up to 8 percent of the project’s value.
The plant upgrade, in the government’s view, is of strategic importance to the country, even though a sustainability NGO warns that subsidising the fossil fuel industry is not the right way to go.
TIME SWITCH
This Sunday, we’re once again setting our clocks one hour forward for the summer time. While we’ll lose one hour of sleep, daylight saving time is meant to give us an extra hour of sunlight in summer evenings. Would we rather not do it? Despite the European Parliament’s decision six years ago to end the practice, member states have yet to move forward with it. Perhaps the issue could be advanced during Lithuania’s EU Council presidency in 2027, a presidential adviser has suggested.
EDITOR’S PICKS
– The “anti-Tesla” sentiment against Elon Musk’s politics has reached Lithuania, too, with dealers saying some buyers cancel their orders out of moral considerations.
– While rearmament and tax changes dominate Lithuania’s political agenda at the moment, what are the chances that politicians will address previously passionately debated questions like same-sex civil partnership or the Istanbul Convention?
– A Lithuanian artist is making nudes from cabbages, cucumbers, zucchinis, and carrots.
– Vilnius University expelled 10 students last year for violating rules on artificial intelligence use. While AI is not banned, not all students use it appropriately.
– A Lithuanian church in New York is set to be closed, with the Lithuanian community and institutions fighting to have it preserved.
– Has Lithuanian driving culture changed in the last decades? A road safety expert says yes.
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