Last week, 1,775 new Covid-19 cases, 11 deaths reported on Friday, body of filmmaker, killed in Ukraine, brought back to Lithuania
KS Holding Kesko Senukai stores sold for 20 million euros
KS Holding, a Finnish-Lithuanian real estate company, said on Monday, April 4, it has sold two buildings in Vilnius and Daugavpils where Kesko Senukai DIY stores operate to Finnish investment fund Titanium Baltic Real Estate for around 20 million euros. Finland’s Kesko owns 50 percent of KS Holding, with the remaining shares owned by Arturas Rakauskas, president of Kesko Senukų, and the investment group Zabolis ir Partneriai.
Lithuania starts retransmitting Ukrainian public radio program
Lietuvos Radijo ir Televizijos Centras (Lithuanian Radio and Television Centre, Telecentras) has started retransmitting the radio program of the Public Broadcasting Company of Ukraine (UA: PBC) via a medium-wave transmitter in Lithuania. Broadcasts in Ukrainian, Russian and Belarusian run daily between midnight and 6:30 a.m. via Telecentras’ medium-wave transmitter that provides night-time radio signal propagation within a radius of up to 1 500 kilometres, the company said in a press release on Monday, 4 April.
Lithuania orders Russian ambassador to leave
The Lithuanian government on Monday, 4 April, decided to downgrade the diplomatic representation between Vilnius and Moscow and ordered Russia’s ambassador to leave the country. It also decided to close Russia’s consulate in the port city of Klaipeda, Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said. The minister also said that Lithuania’s ambassador to Moscow would return to Vilnius shortly. Landsbergis also said that the Lithuanian ambassador to Ukraine was returning to Kyiv.
Nausėda urges German financial sector to contribute to efforts to stop war
President Gitanas Nausėda urged on Tuesday, April 5, Germany’s financial sector to contribute to efforts to stop Russia’s war against Ukraine. In his words, measures aimed at stopping the Russian aggression and making the regime accountable and financially responsible for its criminal actions is a humanitarian necessity – not something for us to choose freely. The president called for further extending international sanctions against Russia by cutting oil and gas imports, closing seaports to Russian ships, restricting financial operations by all remaining Russian and Belarusian banks, and isolating Russia from any international activity, his office said in a press release.
Lithuanian intelligence warns of possible provocations
The Lithuanian State Security Department (VSD) warned on Tuesday, 5 April, of possible provocations and violent incidents on 9 May, when Russians mark the victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two. According to the intelligence agency, 9 May commemorations will most likely be held at Soviet soldiers’ cemeteries in Lithuania this year, as every year. Such commemorations are organised annually in various Lithuanian cities and towns by Russian diplomats together with Russian expatriates. These events are usually attended by several hundred people wearing Saint George’s ribbons which the Lithuanian parliament is planning to outlaw because of the war in Ukraine. If the legislation is passed, wearing the black and orange ribbons and displaying the «Z» symbol of the Russian war in Ukraine will be punishable by law.
Body of filmmaker, killed in Ukraine, brought back to Lithuania
The remains of filmmaker Mantas Kvedaravičius, killed by Russian soldiers in Ukraine’s Mariupol, has been brought back to Lithuania, his friend, Ukrainian journalist Albina Lvutina, posted on her Facebook account on Tuesday, April 5, adding that he was shot dead. She also wrote that the filmmaker had been captured before he was killed, and that the body was simply dumped after he was killed. In her words, Kvedaravičius’ wife took his remains through Russia, risking her life, and for that to happen, information had to be concealed, the journalist said. Born in 1976, Kvedaravičius made Barzakh, an award-winning documentary about war-torn Chechnya and its disappearing population, in 2011.
Vičiūnai Group vows to leave Russia within 4 months, sells business
Vičiūnų Grupė (Viciunai Group), one of the largest Lithuanian food production groups, plans to close its business in Russia within three to four months, its CEO Sarunas Matijošaitis said on Wednesday, 6 April. The group says it has stopped all investments in production in Russia, logistics, trade, and all sponsorship and marketing campaigns since 7 March, when it announced it was suspending its activities in Russia because of the invasion of Ukraine. Moreover, the group is no longer buying any raw materials for its production plant in Kaliningrad region, adding that production is based on raw materials purchased before the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, just to pay suppliers and financial partners in Europe.
Lithuania beefs up artillery
Lithuania has completed the largest acquisition project aimed at bolstering its army, the country’s Ministry of National Defence announced on Wednesday, 6 April. The systems have been handed over to the General Romualdas Giedraitis Artillery Battalion of the Mechanised Infantry Brigade Iron Wolf deployed in Rukla.
Lithuania records lowest daily number of Ukrainian refugees
The total number of Ukrainian war refugees so far registered in Lithuania has risen to almost 41 400, including 17 300 minors, the latest official statistics showed on Thursday, 7 April. Some 469 people have registered with the registration centres or branches of the Migration Department in Lithuania over the past 24 hours, and the number included 153 minors, including 28 children under the age of 6. The 7-day average of those coming from Ukraine now stands at 484 and is also the smallest since the peak reached two weeks ago.
Airports report 5.5-fold increase in passenger numbers for March
Lithuania’s three airports recorded almost 312 000 passengers last month, up 5.5 times from a year ago when the number of passengers stood at 356 000, Lietuvos Oro Uostai (Lithuanian Airports, LOU), the airport operator in Lithuania, said on Thursday, 7 April. The passenger flow in March made 67 percent of the pre-pandemic year of 2019, LOU noted. Vilnius Airport recorded 217 000 passengers in March, from 51 000 in the same month in 2021. Kaunas had 79 000 passengers (4 400), and Palanga recorded 15 000 (around 1 000). In Kaunas, passenger numbers reached almost 93 percent of the level of March 2019.
Lithuania reports 1 775 new COVID-19 cases, 11 deaths
Lithuania recorded 1 775 new coronavirus infections and 11 deaths from Covid-19 over the past 24 hours, Statistics Lithuania announced on 8 April. Some 1 498 of the new cases were primary, 274 were secondary and three were tertiary. Almost 69.7 percent of the Lithuanian population have received at least one coronavirus vaccine jab so far.
Week in Lithuania: Lithuania starts retransmitting Ukrainian public radio programme, intelligence warns of possible provocations
