Last week, Lithuania unveiled its 1st journalists’ protection plan; date for drills over Belarusian N-plant meltdown threat set
President discussed Ukraine support with EC Commissioner
President Gitanas Nausėda on Friday, the 8th of September, met in Vilnius with European Commission Executive Vice-President and Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis. They discussed the agenda for the new European Union’s (EU) political season, support for Ukraine, the use of frozen Russian assets to rebuild Ukraine, sanctions against Russia, the discussions on the EU’s Multiannual Financial Perspective, and military mobility.
Teltonika to invest 75 million euros in plant in Vilnius
Lithuanian high-tech group Teltonika has received permission to build a new electronics assembly plant in Vilnius. The group will invest about 75 million euros in the project in the Teltonika High-Tech Hill technology park and create 700 jobs, it said in a press release on Thursday, the 7th of September. The new plant will be built in Liepkalnis, next to the Teltonika EMS electronics assembly plant, in about a year and a half. It will have a capacity of more than 18 million products per year. The Teltonika High-Tech Hill Technology Park will include 10 new production buildings and offices, to be built in phases over five years, and will employ around 6 000 people.
Foreign minister urges West to speed up military aid to Ukraine
Lithuanian Foreign minister Gabrielius Landsbergis on Thursday, the 7th of September, called on the Allies to speed up the delivery of their military aid to Ukraine, which is fighting back against Russia’s aggression. “We should stand by Ukraine not for as long as it takes, but until Ukraine’s victory,” the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry quoted Landsbergis as saying at an informal meeting of the Nordic-Baltic Eight (NB8) foreign ministers in Latvia.
Lithuania picks Kavtaradze’s Slow for Oscar nomination
Slow, a feature film directed by Marija Kavtaradze, has been selected as Lithuania’s candidate for an Oscar nomination in 2023, the Lithuanian Film Centre said on Thursday, the 7th of September. Slow was chosen by a local commission approved by the US-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Slow will be screened in Lithuanian cinemas starting from the 22th of September. On the 21st of December, the Academy will announce five nominees for the 2023 Oscar in the best international feature film category.
Barracks for NATO high readiness troops to be ready by end of 2025
Barracks in Pabradė, Eastern Lithuania, designated to host NATO’s ultra-high readiness troops, are to be completed by the end of 2025, Lithuania’s defence minister Arvydas Anušauskas told reporters at the General Silvestras Žukauskas training area on Thursday, the 7th of September. The site is to be equipped not only with barracks capable of accommodating about 2 500 troops, but also with equipment repair workshops, helicopter landing sites as 13 facilities in total are planned for the project. The main nine are currently under construction, including barracks, a canteen, training and recreation areas, training, storage and equipment repair buildings, helipads, kennels. Roads and engineering networks are being built, too.
EC Commissioner says Lithuania must proceed with key reforms
Lithuania must push forward with key reforms, such as its stalled tax reform, or risk losing millions of euros in EU funding allocated to the country, European Commission Executive Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis said during his visit to Vilnius on Thursday, the 7th of September. The European Commission has already transferred more than half a billion euros to Lithuania this year but withheld 26 million euros due to the country’s failure to satisfactorily full two milestones related to taxation. Finance Minister Gintarė Skaistė has said that Lithuania could lose a much more significant amount if the tax reform stalls in the parliament.
Lithuania to hold drills in Sept over Belarusian N-plant meltdown threat
A multi-functional exercise will be held on the 21st of September to prepare for a possible accident at the Astravyets nuclear power plant in Belarus, Interior Minister Agnė Bilotaitė said on Wednesday, the 6th of September. In July, Belarus launched the so-called power start of the second unit of its Astravyets nuclear power plant located close to Lithuania’s border and increased its power. Lithuania and international experts say that the Astravyets plant’s construction was carried out in flagrant violation of technological and environmental standards.
LTG turns down nearly every sixth freight transport application
LTG Cargo, the freight arm of Lithuania’s state-owned railway group Lietuvos Geležinkeliai (Lithuanian Railways, LTG), rejected 306, or 15.5%, out of 1 971 freight transport applications in August. One-third of the denied applications (85) were for export or import to or from Belarus, LTG said on Tuesday, the 5th of September. LTG Cargo last month rejected applications for the transportation of a total of 2 716 wagons, including 1 035 for oil and petroleum products, 693 for containerized cargo, 293 for chemical and mineral fertilizers, 180 for coal, 66 for vehicles, and 449 for other goods.
Lithuania draws its 1st journalists’ protection plan
Lithuania’s authorities have for the first time worked out and approved a plan for the protection of journalists. The inter-institutional plan for 2023-2025 was greenlit by Culture Minister Simonas Kairys on Tuesday, the 5th of September. The plan provides for organizing training for prosecutors and police officers on investigating criminal offences committed against journalists, and for judges on the protection of journalists’ rights and guarantees of their activities and of the right to freedom of information, as well as on the unjustified prosecution of journalists for criticism, and the problems of clarifying the concept of public and private persons. The document says that journalists, for their part, will receive training on how to behave at various events, and will be briefed before each high-risk event. The authorities also plan to collect data on attacks against journalists, and compile and publish this information.
Lithuania reports 198 new COVID-19 cases, no deaths
Lithuania recorded 198 new coronavirus infections and no deaths from COVID-19 over Tuesday, the 5th of September, the national health authority, NVSC, reported. The 14-day primary infection rate has risen to 36.9 cases per 100 000 people, with the seven-day percentage of positive tests at 21%. Around 1.19 million people in Lithuania have tested positive for COVID-19 at least once.
New flight routes to Germany sought
New flight routes will be sought to make Lithuania more attractive to German troops, Defence Minister Arvydas Anušauskas said on Monday, the 4th of September. The minister noted that the new routes would be convenient for other travellers as well, not just for German soldiers, but he did not elaborate on these ideas. The minister said he was skeptical about German media reports that only a fifth of the country’s troops would be willing to participate in missions on NATO’s eastern flank. For his part, Lithuania’s Chief of Defence Valdemaras Rupšys also had doubts as to the reliability of the survey. The Germans will arrive with their families and will need schools and kindergartens, but more specific numbers should become clear in mid-autumn, after the deployment plan is drawn up, according to the general. Germany has been leading NATO’s multinational battalion deployed in Lithuania since 2017.
Week in Lithuania: Foreign minister urges West to accelerate military aid to Ukraine, 198 new COVID-19 cases reported over a single day
