Last week, MEP Viktor Uspaskich announced his resignation as Lithuania’s Labour Party chair, Lithuania reported 187 new COVID-19 cases, 1 death on Friday
EU Energy Commissioner Simson visits Lithuania
On Monday, June 13, the European Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simson visited Lithuania. She met with Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda and Energy Minister Dainius Kreivys and discussed RePowerEu – a plan for saving energy, producing clean energy and diversifying energy supplies, which the European Commission presented in mid-May. She also talked about the reduction of the Community’s dependency on Russian fossil fuels, preparations for the forthcoming heating season, security of gas supply, synchronization projects, energy prices, and other issues.
Lithuanian Railways’ Ukrainian subsidiary resumes operations in Ukraine
LTG Cargo Ukraine, a subsidiary of LTG Cargo, the freight subsidiary of Lithuania’s state railway company Lietuvos Geležinkeliai (Lithuanian Railways, LTG), resuming its operations in Ukraine on Monday, June 13. This decision followed the assessment of a significant increase in demand from Ukrainian businesses for transport of grain and other products outside the country, LTG said. The reopened company will provide freight forwarding services in Ukraine and will help its customers to organize rail freight transport via the territories of Ukraine, Poland, and Lithuania. The company will further focus on employee safety therefore operations will be carried out remotely. LTG Cargo established a subsidiary in Ukraine in January 2021.
Lubricants linked to suspicious 200 million euros transactions
SCT Lubricants, a Klaipeda-based German-capital lubricant producer, is linked to suspicious bank transactions worth 200 million euros, identified in the findings of an audit carried out by Luminor Bank, Lithuania’s investigative journalism centre Siena reported on Monday, June 13. The centre refers to the findings of Luminor Bank’s anti-money laundering audit, obtained by an international team of journalists. They show that the DNB and Nordea branches in the Baltic states carried out suspicious transactions worth 3.9 billion euros from 2008 to 2018. According to the leaked information, SCT Lubricants, a lubricant producer and exporter based in the Lithuanian western port city of Klaipeda, carried out a large number of transactions with offshore companies, and the auditors failed to substantiate many of them. Among the potential risks identified by the audit was the company’s relationship with Naftan, a Belarusian state-owned oil company sanctioned by the US in 2011 for its links to the Lukashenko regime. SCT Lubricants denies any wrongdoing and also rejects part of the leaked data completely.
PM tests positive for coronavirus, postpones visit to US
Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė tested positive for COVID-19, the government reported late on Monday, June 13. Therefore, the PM had to postpone her visit to the United States that was planned this week. Šimonytė is fully vaccinated with three vaccine doses, the last of which was administered in mid-November.
China accuses Lithuania of hypocrisy
The Office of the Charge d’Affaires of the People’s Republic of China in Lithuania accused on Tuesday, June 14, Lithuania of hypocrisy in response to condemnation by the Seimas of Lithuania of violations of international law by China in Hong Kong. The Office said that «just as the new electoral system is taking root and democracy is improving in Hong Kong, the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Lithuanian Seimas criticizes, attacks and smears the process and the result of election in Hong Kong.» Earlier in June, three Lithuanian MPs called on the Seimas of Lithuania to condemn Beijing’s repressions in Hong Kong and not to recognize that the appointment of Hong Kong leader in May was democratic.
MEP Viktor Uspaskich announces his resignation as Lithuania’s Labour Party chair
Lithuanian MEP Viktor Uspaskich announced on Tuesday, June 14, his resignation as the chairman of the opposition Labour Party. Uspaskich explained that he had decided to resign in order to provide a new impetus for the party.
Shareholder of Lithuania’s Civinity charged with alleged money laundering
Deividas Jacka, CEO and shareholder of Civinity, one of the largest facility management and engineering solutions groups in the Baltics, has been charged in Latvia with alleged money laundering in connection with tenders for lift maintenance in Riga, Jacka has confirmed to the vz.lt news website on Tuesday, June 14. According to prosecutors, charges are related to tenders for lift maintenance announced by the company Rigas Namu Parvaldnieks, which is controlled by the municipality of the Latvian capital, between 2013 and 2018. One of the defendants submitted bids in those tenders despite knowing that the company he represented lacked workforce to enforce contracts. More than 2 million euros had been paid for the work, of which more than 1.9 million euros had been laundered by transferring funds to the accounts of other related companies, Riga prosecutors said.
Lithuania’s competition watchdog blocks Tiketa
Lithuania’s Competition Council on Wednesday, June 15, refused to greenlight plans by Piletilevi Group, an Estonian ticket distribution and event planning company, to acquire 100 percent of Tiketa, a Lithuanian ticket distributor, despite the fact that the two companies agreed to merge in July, 2019. Piletilevi Group says it’s considering lodging an appeal. The council says it has found that the merger would restrict competition within the market for tickets to various events in Lithuania, and ordered the companies to restore the pre-existing situation or remove any concentration effects.
Foreign ministry «deeply troubled» over Navalny’s prison transfer
Lithuania’s Foreign Ministry expressed on Thursday, June 16, its deep concern over the recent transfer of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny to a high-security penal colony. Up until now, Navalny has been serving his sentence in a prison some 100 km east of Moscow, but one of his lawyers, Olga Mihhailova, said on Tuesday, June 14, that officers from the prison in the city of Pokrov told her he had been moved to a high-security prison.
President delivers State of the Nation, focusing on defence and Ukraine
Speaking in front of MPs in the parliament, Seimas, Nausėda gave on Thursday, June 16, his third annual address since becoming president in 2019. Russia’s war in Ukraine ended the period of relative tranquillity for Lithuania and Europe, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda said, calling Ukraine’s post-war restoration his «personal commitment». EU member states need to secure their energy independence from Russia, Nausėda said, while Lithuania needs to step up its power synchronisation project and focus on renewables.
Lithuania reports 187 new COVID-19 cases, 1 death
Lithuania recorded 187 new coronavirus infections and one death from COVID-19 from Thursday, June 16, to Friday, June 17, official statistics showed on Friday. Some 166 of the new cases were primary, and 21 were secondary. The number of COVID-19 patients in hospitals currently stands at 61, including five ICU cases. The 14-day primary infection rate has edged up to 70.2 cases per 100,000 people, with the seven-day percentage of positive tests at 19 percent. More than 1 million people in Lithuania have tested positive with COVID-19 at least once. Some 69.9 percent of the Lithuanian population have received at least one coronavirus vaccine jab so far.
Week in Lithuania: Lithuanian PM tests positive for coronavirus, postpones visit to US; China accuses Lithuania of hypocrisy
