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LITHUANIA DAILY NEWS BULLETIN, November 23, 2023

Nov 27 2023

LITHUANIA DAILY NEWS BULLETIN


IN THIS ISSUE:

  1. Upcoming events in Lithuania for Thursday, November 23, 2023
  2. Lithuania records no illegal border crossings from Belarus
  3. Lithuanian PM to leave for Ukraine Thursday 
  4. Germany to send around 4,800 troops, 200 civilian staff to Lithuania – ambassador
  5. Lithuania reports 881 new COVID-19 cases, 1 death
  6. Strong winds restrict shipping at Lithuanian seaport, trees block roads
  7. 6 out of 10 people in Lithuania back citizenship retention – poll
  8. Lithuanian MP Gapsys says not quitting, for now, after political corruption sentence 
  9. Decision on Lithuanian MP Gapsys' impeachment depends on Supreme Court – speaker 
  10. Lithuanian PM to travel to Ukraine to meet with its leaders  (updates)
  11. Lithuanian parlt to approve 2024 state budget December 5
  12. Lithuanian lawmakers discussed 2024 state budget for 2nd time
  13. Bad weather causes two delays at Vilnius, Palanga Airports
  14. Lithuanian MP Grazulis questioned as suspect in LGBTIQ contempt case
  15. US, European committees condemn escalation of violence after Hamas attack
  16. Ex-minister Linkevicius proposed for Lithuania's ambassador to Sweden 
  17. Lithuanian president urges formin to 'calm down' after he warns of Russian threat
  18. Guilty verdict in MG Grupe case will have political consequences – Lithuanian president
  19. Lithuanian president: thieves of valuable 19th century books will be severely punished
  20. Upcoming events in Lithuania for Friday, November 24, 2023

Upcoming events in Lithuania for Thursday, November 23, 2023

VILNIUS, Nov 23, BNS – The following events are scheduled in Lithuania for Thursday, November 23, 2023: 

PRESIDENT Gitanas Nauseda to open the Transport Innovation Forum at the Litexpo Exhibition Centre at 9 a.m.; to attend an event marking the Lithuanian Armed Forces Day at 10 a.m.; to meet with Vilnius District Mayor Robert Duchnevic at 11:45, to be followed by comments to the media at 1:15 p.m. 

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

The Seimas to host at 9:30 an international conference on "The situation of young researchers in the Baltic States: Development or waste of future scientific potential?", preceded by a news conference at 9 a.m. 

The Labor Party's political group to meet with FOREIGN MINISTER Gabrielius Landsbergis at 1 p.m.  

PRIME MINISTER Ingrida Simonyte to participate in the so-called "government hour" at the Seimas at noon.

CULTURE MINISTER Simonas Kairys to attend a meeting of EU culture ministers in Brussels.

OTHER EVENTS

Vilnius officials to hold a news conference at 10 a.m. to present the program for the festive period in the capital.

 

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Lithuania records no illegal border crossings from Belarus

VILNIUS, Nov 23, BNS – Lithuanian border guards have in the past 24 hours recorded no attempts to cross into the country from Belarus illegally, the State Border Guard Service (SBGS) said on Thursday morning.

Latvia reported no attempts at illegal border crossings on Wednesday either. Seven irregular migrants were not allowed into Poland on Tuesday, according to the latest available information.

A total of 2,473 irregular migrants have been barred from entering Lithuania from Belarus at non-designated places so far this year.

Lithuanian border guards have prevented a total of over 21,800 people from crossing in from Belarus since August 3, 2021, when they were given the right to turn away irregular migrants. The number includes repeated attempts by the same people to cross the border.

The influx of irregular migrants to the EU's eastern member states from Belarus began in 2021 and is blamed by the West on the Minsk regime.

Almost 4,200 irregular migrants crossed into Lithuania from Belarus illegally in 2021. However, the vast majority of them fled Lithuania once they were allowed to move freely.

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Lithuanian PM to leave for Ukraine Thursday 

VILNIUS, Nov 23, BNS – Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte is set to leave for Ukraine on Thursday for a several-day visit.

The agenda of her visit has not yet been made public.

Simonyte is to depart for Ukraine on Thursday afternoon. Prior to that, she is scheduled to participate in the parliament's session.

According to the prime minister's decree, her visit to Ukraine is scheduled for Thursday through Sunday.

 

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Germany to send around 4,800 troops, 200 civilian staff to Lithuania – ambassador

VILNIUS, Nov 23, BNS – With Berlin planning to deploy a brigade in Lithuania, Cornelius Zimmermann, Germany's ambassador in Vilnius, said on Thursday that about 4,800 troops and 200 civilian personnel will arrive in the country.

"I can inform you that we are planning to send about 4,800 soldiers and 200 civilian staff," he told the Ziniu Radijas radio station on Thursday.

The deployment "will come in stages", according to Zimmermann.

"I think there's no use in having soldiers without housing, but there's no use in having housing without soldiers. So I think it makes sense to build, step by step, the presence of German soldiers in Lithuania," the diplomat said.  

"So, what you need is very good coordination between the two sides and I think that's just what's happening," he added. 

However, the ambassador emphasized that the negotiations are still ongoing and he cannot disclose further details.

Berlin intends to deploy its brigade in Lithuania over the next few years, with an interstate agreement on this matter expected to be signed next year.

The plan is to station a tank battalion, two maneuver battalions, an artillery battalion, and a logistics battalion in Lithuania.

Vilnius and Berlin are currently negotiating what infrastructure Lithuania will have to provide for the incoming German troops.

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has said that Lithuania will have to put in place not only military infrastructure, but also social infrastructure, such as schools, kindergartens and leisure facilities.

The ambassador said that schools are needed because "we have to assume that our soldiers will not just stay for a couple of years". 

"This is a long-term investment. We want our soldiers and their families to feel at home. We also want them to create bonds with the Lithuanian people," he said.

Germany has also been leading NATO's multinational battle group in Lithuania since 2017. 

 

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Lithuania reports 881 new COVID-19 cases, 1 death

VILNIUS, Nov 23, BNS – Lithuania has recorded 881 new coronavirus infections and three deaths from COVID-19 over the past 24 hours, official statistics showed on Thursday morning.

The 14-day primary infection rate has risen to 317  cases per 100,000 people, with the seven-day percentage of positive tests at 35.1 percent.

The number of new coronavirus cases hit the peak in Lithuania in early February 2022 when more than 14,000 new infections were recorded daily. Around 1.19 million people in Lithuania have tested positive for COVID-19 at least once.

COVID-19 incidence in Lithuania took an upward turn in mid-September after having stayed at a low level since May. 

Two-thirds of the country's population have received at least one coronavirus vaccine jab so far, according to the statistics.

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Strong winds restrict shipping at Lithuanian seaport, trees block roads

VILNIUS, Nov 23, BNS –  The Lithuanian seaport of Klaipeda is restricting ship traffic, and fire and rescue teams are working to clear trees blocking roads amid heavy snow and winds on Thursday morning.

The Klaipeda port authority told BNS that the restrictions had been in place since Wednesday evening, with winds of 30 m/s recorded at the port last night.

Thursday morning saw winds reaching 20 m/s at the port, with gusts up to 26 m/s. 

The authority said one vessel was waiting for permission to enter and one was waiting to leave it. 

Due to the high winds, fire and rescue services report having to clear trees blocking roads, mostly in the western part of Lithuania.

Meteorologists advise people to postpone non-essential travel on Thursday due to the challenging weather conditions.

Energijos Skirstymo Operatorius (ESO) told BNS that 7,800 consumers were without electricity at 8 a.m. on Thursday due to the strong winds and snow overnight.  

Rasa Juodkiene, the power distribution company's spokeswoman, said that more than 400 faults had been registered across the country.

She said the situation was worst in the Klaipeda region, where over 5,000 consumers were without power in the morning.

 

By Jurgita Andriejauskaitė

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6 out of 10 people in Lithuania back citizenship retention – poll

VILNIUS, No 23, BNS - Six out of 10 Lithuanian citizens support the retention of Lithuanian citizenship after acquiring citizenship of another friendly country, according to a poll by Baltijos Tyrimai for the public broadcaster LRT, conducted six months before the upcoming referendum.

People were asked whether they supported or opposed to the retention of citizenship by existing Lithuanian citizens after they acquire citizenship of countries friendly to Lithuania. This list includes countries of the European Union, NATO, the European Economic Area and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.

According to the survey, 60 percent support the retention of Lithuanian citizenship by existing Lithuanian citizens after acquiring citizenship of a country friendly to Lithuania. 26 percent disagreed, while another 14 percent had no opinion or did not answer the question.

The poll involved 1,013 Lithuanian residents aged 18 and over between October 23 and November 7.

BNS reminds that the referendum on the legalization of multiple citizenship will take place on May 12, alongside the first round of the presidential election. People will be invited to vote on the following provision of the Constitution: "Citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania shall be acquired by birth and on other grounds and in the manner prescribed by the constitutional law. The constitutional law shall also lay down the grounds and procedure for loss of citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania."

This would remove the prohibition of dual citizenship from the country's basic law. 

The detailed conditions, procedures and other matters relating to the acquisition and loss of dual citizenship would be laid down by a constitutional law. A draft law has already been prepared and registered in the draft legislation database.

Lithuania held a referendum on dual citizen back in 2019 in conjunction with the presidential election and it sought to provide for more possibilities to have dual citizenship, but there were not enough votes for such a change. At that time, over 956,000 voters in total voted in favor of the proposed amendment.

Lithuanians who emigrated after the restoration of independence on March 11, 1990 are currently not eligible for dual citizenship, with some exceptions.

The Constitutional Court has clarified that only a referendum amending the Constitution can open the possibility of dual citizenship to Lithuanian citizens who have acquired citizenship of other countries since the restoration of Lithuania's independence.

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Lithuanian MP Gapsys says not quitting, for now, after political corruption sentence 

VILNIUS, Nov 23, BNS – Vytautas Gapsys, a Labor Party MP convicted in the MG Grupe political corruption case, said on Thursday that he is not stepping down, at least for now. 

"I'm not resigning from the Seimas for now," Gapsys told reporters at the parliament. 

"I've spoken with my lawyer. At this point, we're waiting for the first decisions of the cassation court, and then I think the situation will be clearer both for the parliament and myself," he said. 

The MP confirmed plans to file a cassation appeal with the Supreme Court of Lithuania on Friday and request a suspension of the execution of the judgment.

On Wednesday, the Court of Appeal reversed the ruling of the first instance court and convicted all defendants in the high-profile political corruption case centering around MG Grupe (former MG Baltic), one of Lithuania's biggest business groups.

Gapsys was sentenced to four years and six months in prison. The MP, along with the Labor Party as a legal entity, was convicted of accepting a bribe from Raimondas Kurlianskis, a former MG Baltic vice-president.

The discounts granted by the group's TV stations for the Labor Party's political advertising and support for Meno ir Sporto Projektai (Art and Sport Projects), a limited liability public legal entity, were deemed as bribes.

According to law-enforcement, Gapsys acted in the interests of MG Grupe in exchange for a 27,100-euro bribe.

Other defendants in the case were handed prison sentences and fines of thousands of euros.

 

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Decision on Lithuanian MP Gapsys' impeachment depends on Supreme Court – speaker 

VILNIUS, Nov 23, BNS – The decision on the impeachment of MP Vytautas Gapsys will depend on whether the Supreme Court of Lithuania accepts his cassation appeal and delays the execution of his sentence, Viktorija Cmilyte-Nielsen, speaker of the parliament, said on Thursday. 

"It will depend on the Supreme Court's decision on whether to accept and grant the request to suspend the sentence's execution. It's impossible to foresee this now," she told reporters. 

On Wednesday, the Court of Appeal reversed the ruling of the first instance court and convicted all defendants in the high-profile political corruption case centering around MG Grupe (former MG Baltic), one of Lithuania's biggest business groups.

Gapsys was sentenced to four years and six months in prison. The MP, along with the Labor Party as a legal entity, was convicted of accepting a bribe from Raimondas Kurlianskis, a former MG Baltic vice-president.

The discounts granted by the group's TV stations for the Labor Party's political advertising and support for Meno ir Sporto Projektai (Art and Sport Projects), a limited liability public legal entity, were deemed as bribes.

According to law-enforcement, Gapsys acted in the interests of MG Grupe in exchange for a 27,100-euro bribe.

Gapsys, a member of the Labor Party's political group in the Seimas, said on Thursday that he was not resigning as MP, at least for now.

He confirmed plans to file a cassation appeal with the Supreme Court of Lithuania on Friday and request a suspension of the execution of the judgment. 

Cmilyte-Nielsen also said that the parliament had not yet received the court's verdict, which it would need to initiate the impeachment procedure against Gapsys. 

Other defendants in the case were handed prison sentences and fines of thousands of euros.

Among those convicted is the Liberal Movement, led by the speaker of the Seimas. 

 

By Augustas Stankevičius

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Lithuanian PM to travel to Ukraine to meet with its leaders  (updates)

VILNIUS, Nov 23, BNS – Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte is leaving on Thursday for a several-day visit to Ukraine, where she will meet with the country's leaders. 

The agenda of her visit has not yet been made public.

Simonyte is to depart for Ukraine on Thursday afternoon. Prior to that, she is scheduled to participate in the parliament's session.

"I'll meet with Ukrainian leaders, and on Saturday, I'll participate in the Ukrainian Grain initiative inaugurated last year by President (Volodymyr) Zelensky," she told reporters on Thursday.

When asked what she plans to discuss in Ukraine, Simonyte said that "all topics" will be covered.

According to the prime minister's decree, her visit to Ukraine is scheduled for Thursday through Sunday.

 

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Lithuanian parlt to approve 2024 state budget December 5

VILNIUS, Nov 23, BNS – The Seimas of Lithuania plans to approve the country's 2024 state budget on December 5 after 79 lawmakers in favor of that on Thursday, four were against and 29 abstained.

The increase in funding for roads and other needs raises budget spending by 111 million euros to 20.6 billion euros. As a result, its deficit will go up from the initially planned 2.9 to 3 percent of GDP, the limit of the Maastricht criterion.

872 million euros will be allocated for roads next year, 157 million euros more than previously planned.

By Sniegė Balčiūnaitė

Editor: Roma Pakėnienė

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Lithuanian lawmakers discussed 2024 state budget for 2nd time

VILNIUS, Nov 23, BNS - The Seimas of Lithuania on Thursday discussed the 2024 state budget bill for the second time.

"The key priorities remain unchanged, which is increasing people's incomes, strengthening national security and promoting investments that contribute to higher added value," Finance Minister Gintare Skaiste told lawmakers, presenting the bill that was slightly adjusted by the government on Wednesday.

Certain needs are being met "at the expense of increased public borrowing," she said.

"After a fair assessment of the available possibilities, the improved bill provides additional funds for investments into roads, for cultural and educational needs and for raising people's incomes," the minister said.

Following the adjustment, budget revenue dropped by 30 million euros to 16.98 billion euros and expenditure rose by 111 million to 20.6 billion euros, compared to the initial version. This has led to the increase in the budget deficit from 2.9 to 3 percent, the upper limit of the Maastricht criteria, meaning that spending can no longer be increased.

The government has allocated an additional 157 million euros for roads, taking into account the conclusions of MPs and committees.

By Sniegė Balčiūnaitė

Editor: Roma Pakėnienė

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Bad weather causes two delays at Vilnius, Palanga Airports

VILNIUS, Nov 23, BNS – Despite bad weather conditions, airports in Lithuania operate normally on Thursday, but two flights have been delayed, Tadas Vasiliauskas, a spokesman for Lietuvos oro Uostai (Lithuanian Airports, LTOU), told BNS.

A flight from Riga to Vilnius was delayed on Thursday and a flight from Copenhagen could not land in Palanga.

"The flight from Riga to Vilnius just didn't arrive, but now the flight has arrived. And a plane from Copenhagen did not land due to the wind after midnight at Palanga Airport, but it will land at a later time," Vasiliauskas told BNS. 

According to the Palanga Airport website, the SAS flight from Copenhagen landed shortly after 11 a.m.

Despite bad weather, there are no major disruptions, Vasiliauskas said.

"We have not had major disruptions, no major challenges since this morning, and we operate as usual," he said.

By Valdas Pryšmantas

Editor: Roma Pakėnienė

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Lithuanian MP Grazulis questioned as suspect in LGBTIQ contempt case

VILNIUS, Nov 23, BNS – Formal suspicions of expressing contempt for members of the LGBTIQ community have been brought against Lithuanian PM Petras Grazulis. 

Grazulis has confirmed to BNS that he was questioned by the police as a suspect on Thursday. 

 

By Jūratė Skėrytė

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US, European committees condemn escalation of violence after Hamas attack

VILNIUS, Nov 23, BNS - The chairs of the Foreign and European Affairs Committees of the parliaments of more than 20 countries have signed a joint statement on anti-Semitism and anti-Muslim bigotry, the Lithuanian parliament's press service said on Thursday.

In the statement, the chairs of the 24 committees from the US and European countries, including Lithuania, condemn the spread of hatred and violence in their countries and around the world following the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7.

"We are witnessing an alarming rise in anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim bigotry and violence that has included acts of online hate, verbal assaults, vandalism, desecration of Holocaust memorials and cemeteries, intimidation, death threats, and physical attacks," the joint statement reads.

Antisemitic hate crime investigations have tripled in New York and London over the past month, in comparison to last year. In France, the Interior Ministry documented 1,040 antisemitic incidents in the month following the October 7 attack. Jewish and Muslim community organizations have reported even more incidents throughout our countries, the document states.

The signatories are urging their governments to intensify all efforts to safeguard Jewish and Muslim communities, to condemn these actions when they occur, and to implement our national strategies to combat the dark tide of bigotry and hatred.

The joint statement was initiated by Ben Cardin, the chair of the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, in cooperation with Zygimantas Pavilionis, chair for the Lithuanian Seimas Committee on Foreign Affairs. The document was also signed by the chairs of the Foreign or European Affairs Committees from Armenia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, the European Parliament, France, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Moldova, Norway, Spain, Iceland, Sweden, the United Kingdom, the United States of America and Ukraine.

"The axis of evil is the same today, so both Hamas and Putin must lose and we must all focus accordingly. I am pleased that the new chair of the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Cardin, who initiated the first Magnitsky sanctions against the Putin regime back in 2012, has been on the side of liberty and democracy with Lithuania for decades," Pavilionis said.

On October 7, the Palestinian militant group Hamas launched an attack against Israel, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking around 240 hostages, according to local officials.

Israel retaliated with massive bombardments and ground operations in the Gaza Strip, which have already killed 14,100 people, including thousands of children, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

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Ex-minister Linkevicius proposed for Lithuania's ambassador to Sweden 

VILNIUS, Nov 23, BNS – Linas Linkevicius, a former Lithuanian foreign minister, is proposed for the post of the country's ambassador to Sweden, according to a draft government resolution registered by the Foreign Ministry on Wednesday.

If appointed, he will take office on January 15.

The process of appointing an ambassador usually becomes public after the government registers draft legal acts on their formal nomination for the position. 

Back in 2021, there were plans to send Linkevicius to the US, but President Gitanas Nauseda then said that he could not appoint former foreign and defense ministers as ambassadors to Washington and Brussels, because they needed a period of "political cooling-off". 

The president said in mid-September that Linkevicius had "cooled off" enough to head an embassy. 

The position of Lithuania's ambassador to Sweden has been vacant since diplomat Giedrius Cekuolis completed his term on August 31.

Linkevicius served as Lithuania's foreign minister for two consecutive terms from 2012 to 2020. He returned to the diplomatic service in January 2021 after a general election and was appointed as an ambassador-at-large.

In Lithuania, ambassadors are appointed and dismissed by the president on the nomination of the government and with the approval of the parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs.

 

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Lithuanian president urges formin to 'calm down' after he warns of Russian threat

VILNIUS, Nov 23, BNS – Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda on Thursday called on Gabrielius Landsbergis to "sit down and calm down" after the foreign minister said recently that efforts to stop Russia in Ukraine are failing and Moscow may take military action against NATO countries.

"Nothing has happened in recent weeks or days that we did not know before. However, (...) suddenly things started to be exaggerated," Nauseda told reporters. 

"I'd suggest that the foreign minister just sit down and calm down," he added. 

The minister has said recently that Lithuania's should prepare for a scenario where Russia is not stopped in Ukraine and will continue its fight against NATO countries, underlining the need for immediate strategic decisions to bolster the country's security.

 

By Augustas Stankevičius

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Guilty verdict in MG Grupe case will have political consequences – Lithuanian president

VILNIUS, Nov, 23, BNS – The guilty verdict in the high-profile political corruption case will have political consequences, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda says, adding that it will help to clean up the political system and help people to believe in justice in Lithuania again.

"Indeed, yesterday's court judgment, I respect it and it is a matter of the court's competence, will undoubtedly have political consequences," Nauseda told reporters in Nemencine on Thursday.

On Wednesday, the Court of Appeal reversed the ruling of the court of first instance and convicted all defendants in the high-profile political corruption case centering around MG Grupe (former MG Baltic), one of Lithuania's biggest business groups. Some of the defendants were given prison terms.

Raimondas Kurlianskis, a former MG Baltic vice-president, was sentenced to six years in prison and he was fined 25,000 euros. Eligijus Masiulis, the former leader of the Liberal Movement, which is now part of the ruling block, was given a prison term of five years and six months.

MG Grupe, the Liberal Movement and the opposition Labor Party, whose member was one of the defendants, were fined more than 1.1 million euros, almost 377,000 euros and more than 301,000 euros respectively.

 According to the case materials, bribes were given to politicians both in the form of cash or donations to public establishments, and even an invitation to appear on a TV program was deemed bribery. The Court of Appeal also found that a bottle of vodka and a bottle box containing money were also bribes given to Masiulis.

Nauseda likened the situation to the European spruce bark beetle, a pest that causes great damage to forests, saying that "a European spruce bark beetle has made its way through our political forest", but he hopes that stability in the state will be preserved.

The president also hopes that this would help clean up "in the medium and long term".

As the opposition earlier on Thursday called on the leader of the Liberal Movement, Speaker of the Seimas Viktorija Cmilyte-Nielsen, to check whether she still has the confidence of the parliament, Nauseda said that "this is a matter of the ruling coalition".

The Court of Appeal's verdict entered into force immediately, on the day of its publication, but can still be appealed to the Supreme Court of Lithuania. Some of those convicted in the political corruption case have already said they will do so.

By Austėja Masiokaitė-Liubinienė

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Lithuanian president: thieves of valuable 19th century books will be severely punished

VILNIUS, Nov 23, BNS – Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda hopes book thieves will be severely punished after seventeen valuable 19th century books were stolen from Vilnius University's reading rooms.

"Oh God. This is really big news and I hope the guilty will be punished. Such things should be punished severely," Nauseda told reporters in Nemencine on Thursday.

"Is this really what happened?" the president asked.

Lithuania's prosecution service, which is investigating the theft, told BNS earlier in the day that a pre-trial investigation found that Russian-language books of great historical and cultural value were stolen from several reading rooms at Vilnius University between May 11 and 17. They included works of Alexander Pushkin, Taras Shevchenko, Mikhail Lermontov and Nikolay Gogol.

The total value of the stolen books could be around 440,000 euros, prosecutors say.

Experts believe the stolen books ended up in Russia where at least some of them were sold in hastily organized auctions in Moscow.

It was reported earlier on Thursday that 19th-century Russian literature works, worth millions of euros worth, had been stolen in Poland and other Baltic countries over the past two years as thieves replaced the originals on library shelves with forgeries.

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Upcoming events in Lithuania for Friday, November 24, 2023

VILNIUS, Nov 24, BNS – The following events are scheduled in Lithuania for Thursday, November 24, 2023:

PRESIDENT Gitanas Nauseda to meet with Lieutenant General Jürgen-Joachim von Sandrart , commander of NATO's Multinational Corps Northeast at 10 a.m.

SPEAKER OF THE SEIMAS Viktorija Cmilyte-Nielsen to attend a meting of the Presidium of the Baltic Assembly and the speakers of the national parliaments of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia in Tallinn at 9 a.m.

CULTURE MINISTER Simonas Kairys to attend a meeting of EU culture ministers in Brussels,

FOREIGN MINISTER Gabrielius Landsbergis to pay a working visit to Tallinn to attend a meeting of the Baltic Council of Ministers.

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