Last week, airBaltic said it will offer flights from Vilnius to Hamburg, Lisbon from May; Constitutional Court opened case on Istanbul Convention
Vilnius hosts flag-raising ceremony to mark Sweden’s accession to Nato
The Swedish flag was raised during a ceremony outside Lithuania’s Defence Ministry on Friday, the 8th of March, to congratulate the Nordic neighbour on its accession to NATO, the ministry said. The ceremony was attended by Defence Minister Arvydas Anušauskas, Swedish Ambassador to Lithuania Lars Wahlund, representatives of the Defence Ministry and the Lithuanian Armed Forces. “We have been waiting for this moment for a long time. Finally, we can welcome Sweden to NATO! Sweden’s membership is not only important for the security situation in the Baltic Sea region. With its military capabilities, Sweden will significantly strengthen deterrence in peacetime and in times of crisis and will contribute to stability not only in our region, but also within the Alliance as a whole,” Anušauskas said.
Liepa, Kudimov stripped of Lithuanian citizenship
President Gitanas Nausėda has stripped Ilze Liepa, a ballet dancer who lives in Russia, and Yuri Kudimov, a businessman and former KGB employee, of their Lithuanian citizenship granted by way of exception, Nausėda’s spokesman Ridas Jasiulionis said on Thursday, the 7th of March. The Citizenship Commission recommended last month that Nausėda deprive both individuals of their Lithuanian citizenship. The initiative to strip Liepa, who held both Lithuanian and Russian passports, of her Lithuanian citizenship came after the ballet dancer’s interview with Russian media in which she condemned the Baltic states for their behaviour and expressed her support for President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine. The move to revoke Kudimov’s Lithuanian citizenship followed the State Security Department’s report that he obtained it in 1998 by concealing some personal information, including the fact that he was an intelligence officer of the KGB of the Soviet Union.
Lithuania caught several suspected Belarusian spies in 2023
Several Lithuanian citizens suspected of spying for Belarus were caught last year, Lithuanian intelligence agencies announced on Thursday, the 7th of March. In their 2023 assessment of threats to national security, published on Thursday, the agencies also report that Lithuanian diplomats working in Minsk are facing intimidation by Belarusian officers trying to recruit them. Also, Belarusian special services are also targeting the large Belarusian diaspora in Lithuania. According to the report, several Lithuanian citizens suspected of working with Belarusian intelligence were detained in Lithuania in the second half of 2023 and were issued notices of suspicion.
PM talks Ukraine support with Romanian, Finnish leaders in Bucharest
Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė met with Romanian President Klaus Iohannis and Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo in Bucharest on Thursday, the 7th of March, and they discussed the need to strengthen NATO and allied unity and to mobilize greater support for Ukraine. The Lithuanian prime minister highlighted the importance of allied unity in seeking Ukraine’s victory. Also on Wednesday, the 6th of March, Šimonytė addressed the Congress of the European People’s Party and took part in a discussion at the Euro-Atlantic Centre for Resilience, which focused on the security situation in the Black Sea as well as on other issues related to regional security and resilience strengthening.
Ministry moves to tighten gambling business regulations
The Lithuanian Finance Ministry has drafted legislative amendments to significantly tighten the gambling business regulations, including obliging gambling operators to monitor people addicted to gambling or losing large sums of money, the ministry announced on Wednesday, the 6th of March. According to Vilija Petronienė, senior advisor at the ministry’s Financial Markets Policy Department, the amendments would require gambling operators to apply responsible gambling measures and would also tighten measures to deter companies from violations. The proposal also calls for expanding the powers of gambling market supervision.
FCIS launches probe into drooped Stepukonis investigation
Lithuania’s Financial Crime Investigation Service launched an internal probe into whether officers’ work could have been more effective in responding to earlier reports that Sarunas Stepukonis, a former partner at BaltCap Infrastructure Fund, allegedly embezzled and gambled away millions of euros, FCIS chief Rolandas Kiskis said on Wednesday, the 6th of March. The probe will focus on the FCIS pre-trial investigation dropped in 2022. Stepukonis is suspected of having embezzled more than 27 million euros, and prosecutors believe he gambled away most of it – more than 20 million euros.
airBaltic to offer flights from Vilnius to Hamburg, Lisbon from May
Latvia’s airBaltic is set to offer flights from Vilnius to Hamburg and Lisbon from May, Lithuanian Transport Minister Marius Skuodis said on Wednesday, the 6th of March. Under an investment model agreement signed by Lietuvos Oro Uostai (Lithuanian Airports, LTOU) and airBaltic, the Lithuanian airport operator will compensate the airline for losses if the routes are unprofitable and the carrier will refund the money when the flights become profitable.
Ministry proposes tightening rules for incoming foreign workers
Lithuania’s Interior Ministry has proposed amendments to the Law on the Legal Status of Aliens, aimed at tightening the existing requirements for incoming foreign workers and businesses inviting them, Interior Minister Agnė Bilotaitė told a press conference on Tuesday, the 5th of March. The amendments propose obliging employers to employ foreigners on a full-time basis and to reinstate the requirement for employers to provide information on foreigners’ qualifications and experience. Under the proposal, only foreigners with a residence permit should be allowed to work in Lithuania, and the possibility to work in the country following the arrival under a visa-free regime or on a Schengen visa should be scrapped. It is also proposed to limit the number of employers a foreigner can work for to a maximum of three. Moreover, if a foreigner fails to submit tax returns, although they are obliged to do so by Lithuanian legislation, they might be refused a temporary residence permit in Lithuania or lose the existing one.
LTG Link starts selling train tickets via Google Maps
LTG Link, the passenger transport arm of Lietuvos Geležinkeliai (Lithuanian Railways, LTG), Lithuania’s state-owned railway company, has started selling train tickets via Google Maps, the world’s most popular mapping program, after signing a partnership agreement with Distribution Technologies, a German company that connects carriers around the world, LTG said on Tuesday, the 5th of March. The agreement will also provide access to more than 150 operators and sales platforms worldwide, and preparations are underway to launch the sale of tickets via other popular systems such as Omio, The Trainline, Kiwi, Booking.com, Trip.com and Kayak.
Constitutional Court opens case on Istanbul Convention
Lithuanian Constitutional Court on Monday, the 4th of March, started to examine, by written procedure, the parliament’s petition on the compatibility of the Istanbul Convention with the country’s Constitution. The parliament last fall asked for the Constitutional Court’s opinion on whether the Istanbul Convention’s norms on gender from a social perspective, gender-based violence against women, and the inclusion of material on non-stereotypical gender roles in the official education curriculum, among other things, are in line with the Constitution. The petition was initiated by Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen, speaker of the parliament, who noted that Lithuania had been a signatory to the Istanbul Convention for ten years but had not ratified it.
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Week in Lithuania | Liepa, a ballet dancer, loses Lithuanian citizenship; Ministry targets gambling business laws
