LRT English Newsletter – December 5, 2025
This is it – we are protesting at LRT against what we see as clear signs of political encroachment.
If the proposed legal amendments are adopted, it would take just six out of 12 votes in the supervisory LRT council to fire the director general of LRT. Four members of the council are delegated by the president and two by the parties in power (and two by the opposition), meaning that each new government can easily fire the leadership of Lithuania’s public broadcaster almost at will. This might be contrary to Lithuania’s constitution, as well as the EU’s media regulations, the parliament’s legal desk also said.
Seeing the proposed amendments advance through the parliament under an expedited procedure, LRT workers decided to launch a protest on Monday.
In short, here are our key messages:
– We are not trying to merely defend the current director general or rally behind any other individual.
– Although the LRT budget has been frozen for the next three years, we are also staying clear of that conversation.
– We are, however, fighting for principles and safeguards that keep us free from direct political interference.
A demonstration will take place outside the parliament on December 9. An online petition against the amendments has also been signed by more than 124,000 people.
The parliament has now submitted the amendments to be considered by experts.
99 BALLOONS
Things are becoming more dire at the Vilnius airport after balloons keep grounding flights. Finland’s carrier Finnair has cancelled its evening flights to Vilnius. Meanwhile, officials say other airlines are not considering similar steps, with others warning against moving flights to Kaunas to keep Vilnius on Europe’s flight map.
So what’s with the balloons? Dozens of them keep being launched from Belarus intentionally, Lithuanian officials say, in the flight paths of planes departing and approaching Vilnius Airport. The closure of the border, despite the earlier optimism, did not help.
Lithuania has now asked Brussels to help recover lorries that remain stranded and ransomed in the neighbouring country, while Lithuanian Prime Minister Inga Ruginienė said all the incidents could be classed as “terrorism”.
The head of the Lithuanian armed forces admitted that there really weren’t accessible means to shoot them down– yet. “We are looking for various ways. Manufacturers, both our national defence companies and international ones, are implementing and giving us all kinds of proposals. We have tested certain Ukrainian prototypes, but they are not very effective,” Chief of Defence General Raimundas Vaikšnoras told the radio Žinių Radijas on Thursday. “There are measures available, but they are very expensive. The question is whether we should start destroying those potential targets with weapons designed to destroy fighter jets or drones.”
In related news, the Minsk regime has accused Lithuania of launching a drone carrying – wait for it – white-red-white flags associated with the Belarusian opposition, with the incident being escalated across Belarusian and Russian propaganda media space.
NEMUNAS DAWN LEADER GUILTY
Remigijus Žemaitaitis, leader of the Nemunas Dawn populist party in government, has been found guilty of antisemitic hate speech and was fined 5,000 euros. He maintains that this case is political and has vowed to appeal. Here’s more (and also an earlier explainer, here).
CHINA UPDATE
A group of Lithuanian lawmakers have founded a group in the parliament to normalise diplomatic ties with China,. Meanwhile, Vilnius did not object to Brussels withdrawing the WTO case against Beijing over de facto sanctions against Lithuania.
EDITOR’S PICKS:
– A Belgian soldier serving in Lithuania as part of the NATO forces stationed here succumbed to his injuries.
– Lithuania is preparing new measures to encourage consumers to repair broken electronics rather than replace them.
– Not great: A company connected to a former Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) officer gained access to sensitive information about Lithuania’s port of Klaipėda.
– Pesky slugs are being pesky.
– And meet Sidra, a medical student from Pakistan.
Newsletter
Every Friday morning.
