smuggling

Residents of the Panevėžys district protested against the “Rail Baltica” node; Social Democrat leader accuses ruling bloc of delaying decisions on defense funding

The government transfers the building to the Orthodox Christian community

On Friday, May 3, the Lithuanian government handed over the building in Vilnius to the Orthodox community of the Patriarchate of Constantinople. These rooms had been empty and unused for some time. The Exarchate of the Patriarchate of Constantinople in Lithuania was officially established in February, which allowed it to receive almost €80,000 in state funding. The community began to form in March 2023 after the visit of Patriarch Bartholomew I from Constantinople to Lithuania. Efforts to create a new Orthodox community began with a conflict between several clergy and the Orthodox Archbishop of Lithuania, which is under the control of the Moscow Patriarchate. The Archbishop accused the priests of canonical violations and suspended them. But the Patriarchate of Constantinople ruled that the priests were fired illegally.

The Central Election Commission of Lithuania revokes the mandate of MP Žemaitaiti

The Central Election Commission of Lithuania (CVK) on Thursday, May 2, revoked the mandate of controversial MP Remigijus Žemaitaitis after the politician submitted a request to cancel his mandate last week. His place in the parliament will be vacant until the end of this parliament, because the election code says that elections will not be held if there is less than a year left until the next election, and the new parliament of Lithuania will be elected on 13 October. . Last week, he himself applied to have his mandate suspended after the Constitutional Court ruled that he had broken the oath and the Constitution with his anti-Semitic comments. This is how the leader of the “Nemun Dawn” party avoided a parliamentary vote to revoke his mandate, which would have prevented him from running in elections for ten years. Žemaitaitis is running for the presidency in the May 12 elections.

Police seize smuggled cigarettes worth 3.8 million

On Thursday, May 2, Lithuanian customs court police officers determined the status of eight people suspected of illegal cigarette smuggling abroad and seized nearly one million packs of cigarettes worth 3.8 million euros. Officers arrested two people. Last week, the customs officers, together with the officers of the State Border Guard Service, “Europol”, the Financial Crimes Investigation Service and the Lithuanian anti-terrorist unit “Aras”, conducted searches in Vilnius, Kaunas, Jurbarkas , Alitė and Veisijes , as well as in the Marijampole area in connection with the sale of cigarettes, their transport to Norway and money laundering. During various searches in Lithuania and abroad, the police found 961,000 packs of cigarettes, the total value of which, including taxes, is 3,854,000 euros.

Volkov strikers will be sent to Lithuania by mid-May

Two men arrested in Poland at the beginning of April on suspicion of attacking Russian opposition leader Leonidas Volkov in Vilnius will be extradited to Lithuania by mid-May, the Lithuanian Prosecutor’s Office announced on Thursday. , May 2. Lithuania also reportedly wants to extradite the detained Belarusian citizen who, according to Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, is suspected of having ordered the attack. The two Polish citizens were detained in Warsaw on April 3, and in the second half of April the district court of the city decided to extradite them to Lithuania.

The US battalion will remain in Lithuania forever

The Minister of Defense of Lithuania, Laurynas Kasčiūnas, who was on a trip to the USA on May 2, claims that he has received confirmation that the American battalion will remain in Lithuania indefinitely, not until the end of 2025, as was planned expected first. In October 2022, it was announced that a US Army battalion would be based in Lithuania until the end of 2025 after the US agreed to a rotational force plan for the Baltic states. The minister also said that the Americans have accelerated the delivery of Javelin anti-tank missiles to Lithuania, saying that they will now arrive at the end of this month.

Violation of laws and powers during VSD whistleblower investigation

The temporary commission of the Seimas, which investigated the case of the spy of the Department of State Security (VSD), has broken several laws and procedures, the Ethics and Procedures Commission of the Seimas announced on Tuesday, 30 April. Five of its members voted for such a decision, and four were against it. Social Democrat Dovile Šakaliene refused to vote because her husband works for the Social Democratic Party. The ethics supervisor concluded that the temporary commission has expanded the scope of the investigation, taken over the activities of other state institutions, did not comply with the procedure established by law when publishing the identity of the informant, that he requested criminal intelligence data from other services and his chairman Vytautas Bakas was biased and interested in the investigation. They accuse the whistleblower’s commission of bias, abuse of power and pressure.

Residents of the Panevėžys district are protesting against the “Rail Baltica” node.

On Tuesday, April 30, residents of Panevezys, a northern region of Lithuania, held a protest campaign against the solution of the Panevezys section of the European standard gauge railway “Rail Baltica” proposed by the developer near the presidential palace in Vilnius . The complex consists of an international passenger station on the western side of Panevėžys and an additional railway section of almost 23 kilometers that would cross the town. Tomas Rutkauskas, representative of the Panevėžys District Public Interest Protection Group, claims that they are against the selection of what they consider to be an irresponsible choice of node, which is against the law, constitutional provisions and public interests. The “Rail Baltica” project connects Tallinn, Pärnu, Riga, Panevezys, Kaunas, Vilnius and Warsaw, including a 392 km long section in Lithuania.

Verkhovna Rada official claims Russia has deported more than 19,000 children from Ukraine

Over the past two years, Russia has deported more than 19,000 Ukrainian children, Olena Kondratyuk, the Deputy Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, announced during her visit to Vilnius on Monday , April 29, citing official Ukrainian data. Ukraine expects Russia to pay compensation to the affected families, as well as international courts and punishments for people responsible for such a move, Kondratyuka said at the event “Echoes of Tragedy: Theistimonies of Civilians and Children about Russia’s War in Ukraine” held in Lithuania. Seimas.

LTG reports a net profit of EUR 21.6 million in 2023

Lithuanian state-owned railway group “Lietuvos geležinkeliai” (LTG) announced on Monday, April 29, a net profit of 21.6 million euros in 2023, which is almost 22 times more than 1.2 million euros in 2022, with the arrival -in rising 4% – from EUR 434.1 million to EUR 452.6 million. LTG Group Executive Director Egidijus Lazauskas said that the group renewed its long-term strategy last year and is currently improving domestic rail connections and promoting integration with Europe. “LTG Cargo”, the group’s cargo division, showed a 4% increase in annual revenue to 288 million euros, compared to 276.7 million in 2022. Although the group’s total cargo volume fell by 8% to 29 million tonnes in 2023 from 31 million tonnes the previous year due to tighter sanctions, increasing traffic in the Polish market helped to increase revenues in 2023.

Lithuanian leaders promise to return men of military age to Ukraine

President Gitanas Nausėda and Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė announced on Monday, April 29, that, in their opinion, Lithuania should, in principle, help Ukraine the men of military age who live abroad to get over. In order to recruit more soldiers, the Ukrainian parliament recently changed the migration law, lowering the conscription age to 25 and increasing penalties for those who leave the military service. Earlier, Lithuanian Defense Minister Laurynas Kasčiūnas said that Lithuania may follow in Poland’s footsteps, referring to Ukrainian men of military age living abroad who may be called up for military service. .

Social Democrat leader blames ruling bloc for delaying defense funding decisions

The leader of the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party (LSDP), Vilija Blinkevičiute, accused the ruling coalition of being reluctant to make decisions on additional defense funding. The leader of the party told a meeting of the party council that the debate about additional defense funding was a “pre-election statement” for the governing parties. Blinkevičiute confirmed that, among the measures designed to increase income for defense funding, the social democrats propose to increase the corporate income tax rate for companies with large profits. Other planned measures include the issuance of special protection bonds and the extension of the temporary loyalty tax for banks, said the leader of the LSDP.

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