Print this page

LITHUANIA DAILY NEWS BULLETIN, June 28, 2022

Jun 30 2022

LITHUANIA DAILY NEWS BULLETIN


IN THIS ISSUE:

  1. Lithuanian MPs vote to extend state of emergency until mid-September
  2. Upcoming events in Lithuania for Tuesday, June 28, 2022
  3. Lithuanian president leaves for NATO summit, decision on brigade expected
  4. EU concessions on Kaliningrad transit would create extra problems – Lithuanian formin
  5. Lithuania reports no attempted illegal border crossings from Belarus
  6. Lithuania reports 616 new COVID-19 cases, no deaths
  7. Lithuanian parliament to decide on new childcare allowance rules 
  8. Lithuania fixing cybersecurity gaps, not surprised by Russia's hostile rhetoric – PM
  9. Vilnius hosting 2nd congress of expat writers 
  10. Lithuanian court adjourns hearing on Radkevich's appeal until September
  11. Lithuania bans Russian gas imports, except transit to Kaliningrad 
  12. Lithuania bans minors from buying lottery tickets from 2023
  13. A memorial plaque to Lithuanian writer removed in Russia's Sovetsk (media)
  14. NATO fighter jets scrambled five times last week to identify Russian planes
  15. Prosecutor, not ministry, can sue Veolia – Lithuanian court
  16. A memorial plaque to Lithuanian writer removed in Russia's Sovetsk (expands)
  17. Smaller-scale cyber attacks against institutions, businesses in Lithuania continue
  18. Upcoming events in Lithuania for Wednesday, June 29, 2022

Lithuanian MPs vote to extend state of emergency until mid-September

VILNIUS, Jun 28, BNS - The state of emergency in Lithuania has been extended until mid-September due to Russia's military aggression in Ukraine.

On Tuesday, 80 Lithuanian lawmakers voted in favor of the draft Seimas resolution, seven voted against it and 28 abstained.

Those against the extension said they didn’t understand the need for the whole country to be placed under this regime, arguing that it would be sufficient in the border area only.

Social Democrat Algirdas Sysas said he saw no need for a country-wide state of emergency: "The arguments for introducing a state of emergency in the whole country are to ban the rebroadcasting of Russian TV channels, which is what the communication watchdog is for and it can ban anything. But nobody will probably go and removing the satellite dishes off houses. Those who really want to watch propaganda program have satellite dishes and can use them. And no state of emergency will change that".

Presenting the state of emergency motion earlier this week, Speaker of the Seimas Viktorija Cmilyte-Nielsen said that the threat to public order was not going down, amid Russia's ongoing military aggression in Ukraine as well as crimes against humanity and war crimes, adding that that they are only increasing in scale.

Moreover, she said, Russia is continues with its open and intensifying rhetoric of threats against the countries that support Ukraine.

The state of emergency was introduced in Lithuania on February 24 after Russia started its war against Ukraine and was set to remain until June 29 under the existing resolution. It has now been extended until September 15.

The ban on the rebroadcasting of Russian and Belarusian TV programs, holding meetings in support of Russia's war against Ukraine and other restrictions will remain in force in Lithuania.

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., +370 645 093 86, Vilnius newsroom


Upcoming events in Lithuania for Tuesday, June 28, 2022

VILNIUS, Jun 28, BNS – The following events are scheduled in Lithuania for Tuesday, June 28, 2022:

PRESIDENT Gitanas Nauseda, DEFENSE MINISTER Arvydas Anusauskas and 
FOREIGN MINISTER Gabrielius Landsbergis to attend NATO's summit in Madrid. 

The SEIMAS to hold plenary sittings starting at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.

COURTS

The Lithuanian Court of Appeals is scheduled to hear an appeal by Oleksandr Radkevich, a Ukrainian citizen convicted by a Vilnius court in the January 1991 Soviet crackdown case, starting at 10 a.m.   

 

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., Vertimų skyrius


Lithuanian president leaves for NATO summit, decision on brigade expected

VILNIUS, Jun 28, BNS – President Gitanas Nauseda is on Tuesday leaving for NATO's summit in Madrid, where the Alliance's leaders are expected to confirm their commitment to transform the multinational battalion currently stationed in the country into a brigade.

"It is obvious that Russia poses a long-term military threat to the Alliance, which is why reinforcing land, sea, and air defense in the Baltic region and throughout NATO's eastern flank is essential," Nauseda said in a press release on the eve of the gathering. "This is the only way to prevent further aggression by the Kremlin."

Neighboring Latvia and Estonia have similar objectives at the summit.

Lithuania and other Baltic and Central European countries are also pushing for Russia to be named as a threat in NATO's new Strategic Concept.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said ahead of the summit that the Alliance would boost its forces on its eastern flank to brigade-sized units.

NATO's multinational battalions were deployed to the three Baltic countries and Poland in 2017, in response to the increased threat from the Kremlin following the annexation of Crimea. 

The region's countries are now seeking a larger allied presence on their territories because of the threat from Russia following its invasion of neighboring Ukraine.

NATO defense ministers discussed this issue in Brussels in mid-June. Lithuanian Defense Minister Arvydas Anusauskas then said that the Alliance agreed on the development of a brigade-size allied unit for Lithuania, but the final wording would be finalized in Madrid.

According to Anusauskas, part of a Berlin-led new brigade is likely to be stationed in Lithuania and part in Germany. 

Vilnius wants to have a full brigade in Lithuania, but this also requires the infrastructure of the host country.

Lithuanian officials describe the current plan to have most of the brigade stationed in Germany as "a starting point".

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who visited Vilnius in early June, promised to bolster the NATO battalion in Lithuania to a brigade-sized unit, which he also affirmed in his joint communique with President Nauseda.

Some Lithuanian politicians say Vilnius should veto the Strategic Concept if it does not meet the country's interests. However, Anusauskas emphasizes that "a veto never solves all problematic issues".

In Madrid, NATO leaders are also expected to discuss possibilities for Finland and Sweden to join the Alliance.

The two Nordic countries applied for NATO membership in May, abandoning their longstanding policy of military non-alignment in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. However, their membership bid has been delayed by objections from NATO member Turkey.

 

By Augustas Stankevičius

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., Vilnius newsroom


EU concessions on Kaliningrad transit would create extra problems – Lithuanian formin

VILNIUS, Jun 28, BNS – The European Commission's concessions to sanctions on the transit of some goods between mainland Russia and its Kaliningrad exclave through Lithuania would create additional legal problems, Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said on Tuesday. 

According to the minister, the Commission is still working on a document on how these EU sanctions should be implemented and the current "thoughts" should not be turned into legally binding documents. 

"The biggest problem would be if these thoughts were turned into a legal document, a legal clarification from the European Commission," he told LRT Radio. In our opinion, they would then create additional legal problems."  

"I am worried that this can be potentially seen as a sign of weakness. Russia cannot demand a review of the sanctions and concessions for itself," Lithuania's top diplomat said.  

"This has to be avoided. (...) I have personally heard confirmation that the Commission thinks so as well. Russia cannot have such a diplomatic victory on sanctions," he added. 

According to Landsbergis, making any concessions to an aggressor only further encourages its aggressive behavior. 

"This is holds true in geopolitics, in diplomacy and in law," he said. 

After EU sanctions against Russia took effect on June 17, Lithuania restricted the transit of steel and ferrous metals to Kaliningrad, a move it said was based on clarification from the Commission.

Russia has threatened to retaliate for the transit restrictions which it says violate international agreements. 

 

By Valdas Pryšmantas

Editor: Roma Pakėnienė

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., Vilnius newsroom


Lithuania reports no attempted illegal border crossings from Belarus

VILNIUS, Jun 28, BNS – Lithuanian border guards have in the past 24 hours recorded no attempted illegal border crossings from Belarus, the State Border Guard Service (SBGS) said on Tuesday morning.

It said neighboring Latvia had recorded 12 attempts to cross the border illegally and Polish border guards had turned away 11 irregular migrants.

Lithuanian border guards have sent over 10,300 people back to Belarus since last August, when they were given the right to deny entry to irregular migrants. 

Almost 4,200 irregular migrants crossed into Lithuania from Belarus illegally last year.

Lithuania calls the unprecedented influx of migrants from Belarus, which began about a year ago, a "hybrid attack" by the Minsk regime.

 

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., +370 645 093 86, Vilnius newsroom


Lithuania reports 616 new COVID-19 cases, no deaths

VILNIUS, Jun 28, BNS – Lithuania has recorded 616 new coronavirus infections and no deaths from COVID-19 over the past 24 hours, official statistics showed on Tuesday morning.

Some 518 of the new cases were primary and 97 were secondary.

the number of COVID-19 patients in hospitals currently stands at 64, with no ICU cases.

The 14-day primary infection rate has edged up to 114.8 cases per 100,000 people, with the seven-day percentage of positive tests up to 29.9 percent.

The daily number of new coronavirus cases is still way below the peak of over 14,000 reached in early February.

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.

 

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., +370 645 093 86, Vilnius newsroom


Lithuanian parliament to decide on new childcare allowance rules 

VILNIUS, Jun 28, BNS – The Lithuanian parliament is expected to vote on Tuesday on new rules for monthly allowances for caring for children up to two years of age.  

According to Social Security and Labor Minister Monika Navickiene, the new childcare leave model is more family-friendly.

The draft legislation, among other things, would allow parents to choose whether they want to receive their childcare allowance until their child is 18 months old or 24 months old.

In the first case, the allowance will amount to 60 percent of their eligible earnings before tax and in the second case, it will stand at 45 percent (before tax) for the first year and 30 percent (before tax) for the second year.

Parents will also be able to work, but their salary could not exceed that earned before the child was born. 

If the parliament approves the new model in the final vote, it will come into force next January.

Currently, the monthly childcare allowance amounts to 100 percent of one's salary after tax (77.58 percent before tax) if the leave lasts for one year. If parents chose to receive an allowance up until their child is 2 years old, it stands at 70 percent (54.31 percent) in the first and 40 percent (31.03 percent) in the second year.

 

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., +370 5 239 64 16, Vilnius newsroom


Lithuania fixing cybersecurity gaps, not surprised by Russia's hostile rhetoric – PM

VILNIUS, Jun 28, BNS – Lithuania is fixing cybersecurity gaps after a recent cyber-attack on its institutions, Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte said on Tuesday, adding that the country had observed intensive scanning of the systems before the assault.  

"Measures are still being taken. (Experts) are working 24/7, fixing the gaps after identifying them," she told reporters. "This is definitely not the first cyber-attack. We have seen such attacks in the period since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in late February." 

According to Simonyte, attacks had subsided for some time following the invasion, but there was a lot of scanning for vulnerabilities in information systems.

"(The scanning activity) has been very intensive throughout the recent period. We have been monitoring and seeing the whole situation, and the authorities are now adapting solutions where they are possible," the prime minister said.  

"And Russia's rhetoric is what we are more or less used to where we live, because it usually does not take long for the regime of that country to find a pretext for this rhetoric," she added. 

Lithuania has recently come under an intense cyber-attack, with some public authorities and companies experiencing disruptions. 

Lithuania's National Cyber Security Centre said on Monday afternoon that the most serious incidents had been brought under control, but warned that attacks might continue. 

Killnet, a Russia-affiliated hacker group, claimed responsibility for the cyber-attack, which it said in a video message was in retaliation for the Kaliningrad transit restrictions imposed by Lithuania earlier in June.

After EU sanctions against Russia took effect, Lithuania restricted the transit of steel and ferrous metals to Kaliningrad, a move it said was based on clarification from the European Commission.

 

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., +370 645 093 86, Vilnius newsroom


Vilnius hosting 2nd congress of expat writers 

VILNIUS, Jun 28, BNS – The second congress of writers of Lithuanian descent from around the world is getting underway in Vilnius on Tuesday. 

"This event brings together writers of Lithuanian decent from all over the world, who write not only in the Lithuanian language, but affirm the importance of Lithuanian identity through their work," said Jurate Caspersen, chairwoman of the Cultural Commission of the Lithuanian World Community. 

The congress, which will run through Thursday, is to be attended by 25 authors, translators and literary critics from 15 countries:  Australia, Belgium, Canada, Cyprus, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Mexico, the Netherlands, Poland, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States.

The first congress of expatriate writers took place in 2019.

 

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., +370 5 239 64 16, Vilnius newsroom


Lithuanian court adjourns hearing on Radkevich's appeal until September

VILNIUS, Jun 28, BNS –  The Lithuanian Court of Appeal on Tuesday adjourned its hearing on an appeal by Oleksandr Radkevich, a Ukrainian citizen convicted by a Vilnius court in the January 1991 Soviet crackdown case, until September.

The Court of Appeal stated that the man, who is currently defending Ukraine against Russia, was unable to attend the criminal proceedings for an important reason. However, the panel of judges rejected his request for a remote hearing. 

"He must come to Lithuania, familiarize himself with the case and attend the hearing in person," Judge Nerijus Meilutis said during the hearing.

Three previous attempts by the court to hold a hearing on Radkevich's appeal in Vilnius failed in January, February and March. 

Radkevich notified the court that he was unable to attend the hearing in Vilnius due to the ongoing fighting in his country, sending in documents, including a territorial defense volunteer certificate, to prove this. 

Arvydas Verpecinskas, Radkevich's lawyer, emphasized that his client is not in hiding, but he is requesting remote hearings because of the war in Ukraine.

The Court of Appeal warned, however, that Radkevich's appeal might go unheard if he fails to appear in court. 

"(The man is fighting) in territorial defense, not in regular forces, and if he evades and fails to appear at the hearing, the panel will consider terminating the proceedings," said Judge Meilutis. 

The next hearing is scheduled for September 6.

Radkevich, 53, was detained in Greece last September on a European arrest warrant issued by a Lithuanian court. The Supreme Court of Greece ruled on February 9 not to extradite the man to Lithuania and he was released.

Several years ago, Vilnius Regional Court sentenced Radkevich to four years in prison for driving a tank involved in the bloody events at the Lithuanian capital's Press House.

The Ukrainian appealed the sentence to the Court of Appeal of Lithuania last December. He had the right to do so even though the verdict had become final, because his case was heard by the court of first instance in absentia.

Radkevich is one of 67 people handed prison sentences in the mass trial. The majority of the defendants were convicted in absentia as Russia and Belarus refused to extradite them. 

Fourteen civilians were killed and hundreds more were injured when the Soviet troops stormed the TV Tower and the Radio and Television Committee building in Vilnius in the early hours of January 13, 1991.

The Soviet Union used military force in its attempt to remove the legitimate government of Lithuania which declared independence on March 11, 1990.

 

 

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., +370 645 093 86, Vilnius newsroom


Lithuania bans Russian gas imports, except transit to Kaliningrad 

VILNIUS, Jun 28, BNS – Lithuania has passed a law banning Russian natural gas imports into the country, except for gas transit via its territory to Moscow's Kaliningrad exclave. 

The parliament on Tuesday adopted the respective amendments to the Law on Natural Gas in a vote of 123 to none with two abstentions. 

The legislation will bar access to Lithuania's gas transmission system and its Klaipeda LNG terminal to suppliers from countries deemed as posing a threat to national security. The ban will not apply to suppliers transporting gas via Lithuania to Kaliningrad. 

Klaipedos Nafta, the operator of the Klaipeda LNG terminal, in early March suspended the acceptance of cargoes from Russia's Novatek after the EU imposed sanctions on Gennady Timchenko, a Russian oligarch who can be considered a controlling person of the Novatek Group under EU law, over the Kremlin's invasion of Ukraine.

In April, Lithuania also cut off imports of pipelined Russian gas in a bid to gain full independence from Gazprom and in response to Russia's energy blackmail in Europe and the war in Ukraine.  

Currently, Russian gas continues to transit through Lithuania to Kaliningrad, but under a different technical regime than usual, ensuring that only the volume of gas needed for transit is transported. 

 

By Sniegė Balčiūnaitė

Editor: Roma Pakėnienė

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., +370 5 239 64 14, Vilnius newsroom


Lithuania bans minors from buying lottery tickets from 2023

VILNIUS, Jun 28, BNS – Minors will no longer be able to buy any lottery tickets in Lithuania from January 2023. 

The parliament on Tuesday adopted the respective amendments to the Law on Lotteries in a vote of 88 to seven with abstentions.    

The new legislation will also prohibit shop cashiers from offering lottery tickets to customers. 

The Seimas also reversed its previous decision and definitively banned lottery organizers and lottery ticket distributors and their employees from encouraging shoppers to participate in lotteries by offering them to buy tickets at the point of distribution.

The ban does not apply when lottery tickets are sold online.

Currently, there is no age limit for purchasing lottery tickets, but a person has to be at least 16 years old to claim the winnings.

 

 

By Sniegė Balčiūnaitė

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., +370 5 239 64 14, Vilnius newsroom


A memorial plaque to Lithuanian writer removed in Russia's Sovetsk (media)

VILNIUS, Jun 28, BNS - A memorial plaque to Vilhelmas Storosta-Vydunas, a Lithuanian writer and philosopher who lived and worked in Sovetsk, Russia's Kaliningrad region, has been removed, Lithuania's public broadcaster LRT reports on Tuesday.

"Friends have asked for a plaque to Denis Davydov, instead of Vydunas," Yevgeny Makarov, head of the Sovetsk administration, posted on the VKontakte social network, sharing a video of the process.

He also provided a link to a Wikipedia article about Davydov, a leader of the partisan resistance to Napoleon in 1812 and a representative of "hussar poetry".

A participant of the Lithuanian national revival movement, Vydunas was born in 1868 in Lithuania's Silute District. While living in the Lithuanian part of East Prussia, then part of Germany, he wrote more than 30 drama works and lectured on the subject of nationality throughout Lithuania.

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., +370 645 093 86, Vilnius newsroom


NATO fighter jets scrambled five times last week to identify Russian planes

VILNIUS, Jun 28, BNS - NATO fighter jets were scrambled five times last week to identify and escort Russian military planes flying in the international airspace over the Baltic Sea, and also escorted a single-engine plane flying in the Estonian airspace, Lithuania's Ministry of National Defense said on Monday.

On June 20, fighters jets stationed as part of NATO's air policing mission identified a Russian IL-20 aircraft twice. This type of aircraft was also identified and escorted on June 21 and 23. The plane was in contact with the air traffic control center, in some cases flying without a flight plan and with the radio transponder switched off.

On June 24, NATO fighter jets identified a small white single-engine EV97R-type aircraft, the ministry told BNS.

"No identification marks could be established for this private aircraft. The plane was flying in Estonia's airspace from Parnu to Rakvere and did not cross the border", the ministry said.

It noted that the aircraft was flying with its onboard transponder off, without a flight plan and without radio communication with the regional air traffic control center.

"The aircraft was flying within the Estonian airspace, therefore, the threats of possible airspace violations were assessed in line with Estonia's internal flight rules," the ministry said.

Also on June 20, NATO fighter jets patrolled along the Baltic airspace border with Russia and Belarus.

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., +370 645 093 86, Vilnius newsroom


Prosecutor, not ministry, can sue Veolia – Lithuanian court

VILNIUS, Jun 28, BNS - The Lithuanian Court of Appeal on Tuesday rejected the state's lawsuit against the French energy group Veolia, worth more than 240 million euros.

A judicial panel ruled that the lawsuit met key elements of public interest defense, but it should have been brought by a prosecutor as the ministry could not do that.

"A lawsuit to defend the public interest can only be brought by a prosecutor and by institutions authorized by law, and the right must be provided for by a law, and not by a by-law. In this case, the Energy Ministry was granted the power to sue by a government resolution, therefore, the judicial panel maintains, the state did not have the right to bring the lawsuit," the court said in a statement.

In February, the Vilnius Regional Court also refused to accept a lawsuit filed by the Ministry of Energy, representing the State of Lithuania.

The regional court also rejected the state's lawsuit once earlier because the dispute between Lithuania and Veolia is still being considered by the arbitration court in Washington. In January, however, the Supreme Court of Lithuania ruled this was not an obstacle to filing a lawsuit with a Lithuanian court.

In July, 2020, the Energy Ministry filed a lawsuit against Veolia Group companies Veolia Environnement, Veolia Energie International, Vilniaus Energija and Litesko, as well as against Icor and persons with links to these businesses.

The move was aimed at transposing to national courts the claims Lithuania had brought in a counterclaim against Veolia, filed with the Washington arbitration court in 2017. 

Lithuania seeks to prove that Veolia and Icor illegally secured lease contracts for heating businesses in ten Lithuanian municipalities between 1999 and 2003 and illegally profited from heating consumers.

Having initiated a case against Lithuania in 2016, Veolia maintains that the Lithuanian authorities violated the French-Lithuanian bilateral investment protection treaty, adding that its investments suffered due to unfair behavior by Lithuanian politicians and regulators. The French company sought damages at the Washington arbitration.

Initially, Veolia sought 118 million euros in damages from Lithuania, but the amount was later reduced to 79 million euros.

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., Vilnius newsroom


A memorial plaque to Lithuanian writer removed in Russia's Sovetsk (expands)

VILNIUS, Jun 28, BNS - A memorial plaque to Vilhelmas Storosta-Vydunas, a Lithuanian writer and philosopher who lived and worked in Sovetsk, Russia's Kaliningrad region, has been removed, Lithuania's public broadcaster LRT reports on Tuesday.

"Friends have asked for a plaque to Denis Davydov, instead of Vydunas," Yevgeny Makarov, head of the Sovetsk administration, posted on the VKontakte social network, sharing a video of the process.

He also provided a link to a Wikipedia article about Davydov, a leader of the partisan resistance to Napoleon in 1812 and a representative of "hussar poetry".

Responding ironically to the move, Lithuanian Culture Minister Simonas Kairys said "our famous writer, philosopher and humanist, persecuted by the Nazis, has been denazified".

"This way Russia is trying to put him on the same shelf with the "armed" sculptures of the Great Patriotic War. The bas-relief has been removed from the house where Vydunas lived for 11 years," the minister said in his Facebook post.

A participant of the Lithuanian national revival movement, Vydunas was born in 1868 in Lithuania's Silute District. While living in the Lithuanian part of East Prussia, then part of Germany, he wrote more than 30 drama works and lectured on the subject of nationality throughout Lithuania.

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., +370 645 093 86, Vilnius newsroom


Smaller-scale cyber attacks against institutions, businesses in Lithuania continue

VILNIUS, Jun 28, BNS - Cyber attacks against Lithuanian state institutions and businesses continue on Tuesday, but on a slightly smaller scale compared to yesterday, Jonas Skardinskas, acting head of the country's National Cyber Security Center, told BNS on Tuesday.

"The total number of affected state institutions is lower than yesterday. I couldn’t compare the intensity of attacks, but I think that pooled effort to protect websites has helped, and judging from the information from public sources, we now see private businesses being targeted," Skardinskas told BNS.

In his words, the state-controlled seaport of Klaipeda and the Center of Registers have been hit by DDoS attacks since this morning and their operation was disrupted as some point.

The Vilnius municipality, Lithuanian courts, Siauliu Bankas, IT company Baltneta, as well as the 15min news website, Regitra and eTAKSI have also come under smaller attacks.

The State Tax Inspectorate was also attacked on Monday, Skardinskas said, adding, however, its system's disruption was mainly caused by other failures, rather than the attacks, he said.

"It was a technical network failure that was not directly related to the attack. The attack did take place but it was not very severe, and the failure was due to a network fault," he said.

Skardinskas also confirmed that the NCSC's own website was also attacked, but the institution managed to repel it.

In total, eight larger-scale or longer attacks have been recorded by the NCSC's cyber security experts since last week.

As reported earlier, the websites of Litgrid, Lithuania's state-owned power transmission system operator, Lietuvos Gelezinkeliai (Lithuanian Railways, LTG), the country's state-owned railway company, the State Tax Inspectorate, a telecommunications center, the Delfi news website came under attack, and disruptions in the area of accounting services were also reported.

The NCSC's acting director says the damage to institutions has so far been more "reputational", while businesses may have suffered financial losses as a result of these attacks.

A group calling itself Killnet has claimed responsibility for the attack, as it published information on planned and executed attacks on its Telegram channel. The group by that name is linked to Russia's intelligence in the cyber world.

Killnet said earlier the attacks were being carried out in retaliation for the Kaliningrad transit restrictions on certain goods, imposed a week and a half ago.

Lithuania restricted the transit of steel and ferrous metals to Kaliningrad after the EU sanctions came into force, stating that the decision was based on the European Commission's clarification.

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., +370 645 093 86, Vilnius newsroom


Upcoming events in Lithuania for Wednesday, June 29, 2022

VILNIUS, Jun 29, BNS – The following events are scheduled in Lithuania for Wednesday, June 29, 2022:

PRESIDENT Gitanas Nauseda, DEFENSE MINISTER Arvydas Anusauskas and FOREIGN MINISTER Gabrielius Landsbergis attending NATO's summit in Madrid.

SPEAKER OF THE SEIMAS Viktorija Cmilyte-Nielsen  to chair a meeting of the Board of the Seimas at 9 a.m.

Jonava to host an opening ceremony at 11 a.m.for a newly-established company, Lithuania Defense Services, that will provide logistics and maintenance services for combat vehicles owned by the Lithuanian army and NATO allies. The ceremony will be attended by Deputy Minister of National Defense Vilius Semeska, Chief of Defence Lt. Gen. Valdemaras Rupsys, the CEOs of Rheinmetall, Krauss-Maffei Wegmann, Lithuania Defense Services.

JUSTICE MINISTER Ewelina Dobrowolska to meet with UK Ambassador to Lithuania Brian Olley at 9.30 a.m.

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., Vilnius newsroom


 

 
Read 2237 times
Rate this item
(0 votes)

About The Author