Evaldas Kudirka, son of the Soviet-era dissident Simas Kudirka, has regained Lithuanian citizenship more than 50 years after his father’s famous defection attempt, the Lithuania's Foreign Ministry announced.
On November 23, 1970, during a meeting between US and Soviet fishing authorities in US territorial waters, Evaldas’ father, Lithuanian-born sailor Simas Kudirka, leapt onto the US Coast Guard vessel Vigilant and requested political asylum.
However, Soviet officials who had been allowed aboard the US ship forcibly returned him to the Soviet vessel. As a result, in 1971 Simas was sentenced to ten years in Soviet prisons and labour camps in Pskov and Mordovia.
In 1974, after his mother, who had been born in the United States, regained her US citizenship and following sustained diplomatic pressure from the US, Simas was released and allowed to emigrate to the United States.
“More than half a century later, Evaldas made his own ‘leap’ – returning to Lithuania and choosing, together with his wife, to build their life here,” the MFA said.
The Foreign Ministry explained that restoration of Lithuanian citizenship is possible for individuals who submit the necessary documents to Lithuania's Migration Department, which evaluates applications based on legal criteria.
“In this case, Evaldas submitted his application this year. Since the documents were complete, the Migration Department reviewed the case, and the Minister of the Interior officially restored his Lithuanian citizenship in the same year,” the Foreign Ministry told LRT.lt.
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