LITHUANIA DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
IN THIS ISSUE:
- Lithuanian President Nauseda will seek re-election
- Upcoming events in Lithuania for Thursday, December 7, 2023
- Eighteen irregular migrants turned away on Lithuania's border with Belarus
- Lithuanian president to announce Thursday if he'll run for re-election
- Germany's 21st brigade starts rotation in Lithuania
- Lithuanian PM calls 2024 budget 'good result' given limited resources
- After whistleblower's testimony, Lithuanian intelligence body insists it followed law
- Lithuania reports 1,280 new COVID-19 cases, no deaths
- If citizenship helps to bypass sanctions, we should consider taking it away- Lithuanian PM (expands)
- Improving China-Lithuania trade relations are fragile – minister
- Lithuanian panel to focus on 'dark money' allegedly used during last presidential election
- Sustainable defense funding in Lithuania can only come from taxes – ruling block
- Stalled US aid will still reach Ukraine – Lithuanian PM, defmin
- Minister sets up commission over Lithuanian passports of Abramovich's children
- Over 32,000 Ukrainian soldiers trained under UK-led Operation Interflex – Lithuanian army
- Lithuania's conscription reform opens way for universal male draft – minister
- Businesses transporting Russian food behave immorally but legally – Lithuanian PM
- New Russia sanction package to put more responsibility on EU firms – Lithuanian official
- Government's promises to teachers will "hang in the air" – Lithuanian president
- Lithuanian President Nauseda will seek re-election
- Lithuanian president skeptical of draft amendments to revoke citizenship by descent
- Elections in US, other countries will affect Ukraine aid discussion – Lithuanian president
- Upcoming events in Lithuania for Friday, December 8, 2023
Lithuanian President Nauseda will seek re-election
VILNIUS, Dec 07, BNS – Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda announced on Thursday his decision to seek re-election next year.
"I am determined and committed to continue the started work. I will run for president in May 2024 and I hope that the people of Lithuania will give me a strong mandate of trust, as they did in 2019," Nauseda told a press conference at the Presidential Palace on Thursday.
Nauseda was elected president in 2019, defeating incumbent Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte in the runoff.
Public opinion polls show Nauseda, 59, is the clear favorite to win the presidential election next year.
His main rivals are Simonyte and lawyer Ignas Vegele. The latter has already announced his plans to run for president earlier this month.
In total, more than ten people have announced their plans to run for president in May.
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Upcoming events in Lithuania for Thursday, December 7, 2023
VILNIUS, Dec 07, BNS – The following events are scheduled in Lithuania for Thursday, December 7, 2023:
THE SEIMAS' plenary sittings to start at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.
SPEAKER OF THE SEIMAS Viktorija Cmilyte-Nielsen welcome participants of a Lithuanian-Belarusian journalists' forum at 10:30 a.m.; to attend a Chanukah candle-lighting ceremony at Vilnius' Choral Synagogue at 2 p.m.; to attend a reception hosted by the Netherlands' embassy at 6 p.m.
THE SEIMAS to host Baltic journalists' forum entitled "International conflicts and journalism:
the aim is to maintain the highest standards of journalism" at 10:30 a.m.
PRIME MINISTER Ingrida Simonyte to give an interview to LRT Radio at 8:05 a.m.;
to participate in the so-called "government hour" at the Seimas at noon.
OTHER EVENTS
The Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania to host, starting at 10 a.m., an international scientific conference on "The Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the 18th Century. Citizen. Family. Education".
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Eighteen irregular migrants turned away on Lithuania's border with Belarus
VILNIUS, Dec 07, BNS – Lithuanian border guards have in the past 24 hours turned away 18 migrants attempting to cross into the country from Belarus illegally, the State Border Guard Service (SBGS) said on Thursday morning.
Latvia reported eight attempts at illegal border crossings on Wednesday, and 16 irregular migrants were not allowed into Poland on Tuesday, according to the latest available information.
More than 2,500 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 almost 22,000 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 president to announce Thursday if he'll run for re-election
VILNIUS, Dec 07, BNS – Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda is expected to announce on Thursday whether or not he will run for a second term in next year's elections.
Nauseda, who has previously said he will announce his decision on December 7, is holding a news conference on Thursday.
Nauseda was elected president in 2019 after winning the run-off against Ingrida Simonyte, the current prime minister.
Opinion polls indicate that the 59-year-old incumbent is a clear favorite to win the presidential elections scheduled for next May.
Ignas Vegele, a lawyer who has recently announced his decision to stand in the elections, and Simonyte, who is running for the ruling conservative Homeland Union-Lithuanian Christian Democrats, are seen as his main challengers.
So far, nine candidates have already announced that they will run in the elections.
The Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union is fielding Aurelija Veryga, a former health minister and now an MP. The Democratic Union "For Lithuania" has named Giedrimas Jeglinskas, a former deputy defense minister and NATO assistant secretary general, as its candidate.
The Freedom Party is nominating Dainius Zalimas, a former president of the Constitutional Court, and the Freedom and Justice has named Arturas Paulauskas, its acting chairman, as the party's candidate.
Valdas Tutkus, a former chief of defense, Mantas Varaska, the mayor of Kazlu Ruda, a town in southern Lithuania, and Antanas Kandrotas have also announced their intention to run in the presidential race.
Kandrotas, known by the nickname Celofanas (Cellophane), is on trial in a criminal case concerning the August 2021 riot outside the parliament building in Vilnius.
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Germany's 21st brigade starts rotation in Lithuania
VILNIUS, Dec 07, BNS – The German Army's 41st Brigade, assigned to Lithuania since the fall of 2022, is being replaced by the 21st Brigade, the Lithuanian Armed Forces said on Wednesday.
The troops of the outgoing rotation were awarded Medals for Mutual Support by Lithuania's Chief of Defense General Valdemaras Rupsys.
"It took only a few months until Commander Brig Gen Christian Nawrat and his troops with combat assets were in Lithuania after Germany took the decision to assign an enhanced Vigilance Activity Brigade to Lithuania in the summer of 2022," Rupsys told the troops.
"A few more months later, the Brigade had already reached Full Operational Capacity to be effective in the territory of Lithuania with our and Allied troops," the general said.
"It is a vitally important signal of solidarity and an example of German and NATO unity materialized in concrete actions and deeds," he added.
The incoming eVA Brigade, the 21st Armored Brigade of the Bundeswehr, led by Commander Marco Eggert, is taking "the baton of deterrence and defense tasks in Lithuania", according to the press release.
The 4,000-strong brigade is one of the rapid response units of the German Armed Forces.
Most of it is currently stationed in Germany.
President Gitanas Nauseda and Chancellor Olaf Scholz last year signed a joint communiqué on the assignment of a German brigade to Lithuania. After debating for some time whether the unit should be deployed in the country only for exercises or permanently, the countries finally agreed on the latter option.
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.
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Lithuanian PM calls 2024 budget 'good result' given limited resources
VILNIUS, Dec 07, BNS – Lithuania's 2024 state budget, passed by the parliament this week, is a compromise and a good result given the limited resources, Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte said on Thursday.
"I think what we've achieved is a good compromise. I saw a comment somewhere saying the budget isn't perfect. I don't know if there ever is a perfect budget, because it is always about unlimited desires and limited resources," Simonyte told LRT Radio.
"Under these limited resource conditions, I believe the government has achieved a good result," she added.
According to the prime minister, the budget was adopted considering next year's uncertain economic situation, the Maastricht criteria, support for Ukraine, spending on Lithuanian defense, and the needs of many interest groups.
"The government really sought a balance between several fires burning at the same time while preparing the budget," she said.
Vaidas Augustinavicius, an advisor to Gitanas Nauseda, said on Wednesday that the budget was "not perfect" and that the president Gitanas Nauseda had yet to decide whether to sign the bill, passed by the parliament on Tuesday, into law.
Next year's state budget is planned with a deficit of 3 percent of GDP, with revenue projected at 16.98 billion euros and expenditure at 20.6 billion euros.
By Valdas Pryšmantas
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After whistleblower's testimony, Lithuanian intelligence body insists it followed law
VILNIUS, Dec 07, BNS – After a whistleblower's testimony, the Lithuanian State Security Department (SSD) reiterates that it followed the law when vetting the team of Gitanas Nauseda, then a presidential candidate.
"The SSD strictly complies with the requirements of the law in its activities," the department told BNS in a comment after Tomas Gailius, its former employee, on Wednesday testified before a parliamentary inquiry commission about his whistleblower report.
"The SSD has provided information on the totality of actions carried out in the context of the 2019 Lithuanian presidential elections both to the CNSD, which conducted its investigation at that time, and to the current temporary inquiry commission, based on the questions presented," the intelligence agency said.
It did not comment in more detail on the whistleblower's testimony.
Gailius told the parliamentary commission that the top SSD officials might have committed a disciplinary offense or even a crime by asking the department's employees to vet Nauseda's inner circle and possibly sharing information with unauthorized persons.
The parliamentary inquiry is looking into where the vetting was justified and at whose request it was conducted.
The commission has until March 10 to present its findings.
It was set up after the Prosecutor General's Office stated last spring that the report submitted by the whistleblower, then an intelligence officer, to Vytautas Bakas, who chaired the Committee on National Security and Defense (CNSD) of the previous parliamentary term, in 2019 had not been properly examined.
The whistleblower's story was recorded in a book by journalists Dovydas Pancerovas and Birute Davidonyte, titled The Whistleblower and the President.
The former SSD officer told the journalists that in July 2018, he received several sheets of paper with many names and a verbal instruction from Remigijus Bridikis, the intelligence agency's deputy director, "to vet the electoral team of one candidate and the list of possible supporters".
It turned out that the list contained the names of supporters and associates of the then-presidential candidate Nauseda.
Having looked into the situation at the time, the CNSD stated that the SSD had acted lawfully in vetting people close to the presidential candidates, but urged refraining from verbal instructions in such situations.
While SSD officials said that all presidential candidates' teams had been vetted, the whistleblower claimed that only Nauseda's team had been subjected to checks and that Bridikis confirmed to him that the lists had been obtained from Nauseda.
The president categorically denies having asked the SSD to vet his team.
Gailius testified publicly to the parliament commission on Wednesday, having opted to stop hiding his identity.
The man also said that he had been subjected to psychological pressure at work, such as not being invited to leadership meetings and having his vacation request denied, after it became known that he was a whistleblower.
By Saulius Jakučionis
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Lithuania reports 1,280 new COVID-19 cases, no deaths
VILNIUS, Dec 07, BNS – Lithuania has recorded 1,280 new coronavirus infections and no deaths from COVID-19 over the past 24 hours, official statistics showed on Thursday morning.
The 14-day primary infection rate has risen to 490.3 cases per 100,000 people, with the seven-day percentage of positive tests at 39.2 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 1.36 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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If citizenship helps to bypass sanctions, we should consider taking it away- Lithuanian PM (expands)
VILNIUS, Dec 07, BNS - If citizenship is acquired to circumvent international sanctions, it can be stripped by means of changing the country's laws, Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte said on Thursday after it emerged that two children of Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, who has close ties with the Kremlin, have Lithuanian citizenship.
"It certainly doesn’t look good for our country when people close to the regime have some legal documents of residence and can use these documents to circumvent international sanctions. So I really think that this issue needs to be resolved, and if amendments are needed, they will be initiated," the prime minister told the public radio LRT on Thursday.
"Apparently, there is a need to discuss whether laws should be changed. (...) Usually, in such cases, people have more than one citizenship, even on the grounds of descent, and we could talk about the grounds for stripping them of citizenship in the Seimas as well, but, of course, that would require amendments to the law," Simonyte said.
Many people close to the Kremlin obtained residence permits in EU countries before the Russian invasion of Ukraine and openly expressed support for the Russian leadership, which is a problem, the Lithuanian prime minister added.
On Wednesday, Lithuania's Migration Department confirmed that two of Abromovich's children have Lithuanian citizenship, but he's not a Lithuanian citizen.
Also speaking on Wednesday, Interior Minister Agne Bilotaite said that legislation was being drafted that would allow stripping persons of Lithuanian citizenship on the grounds of a threat to national security, including for those who have acquired their passports on the basis of their descent.
Her comment came after Siena, a Lithuanian investigative journalism center that contributed to an international investigation, reported on Wednesday that Abramovich's children Anna and Arkady Abramovich, who may have helped their father circumvent the existing international sanctions, have Lithuanian passports.
By Valdas Pryšmantas
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Improving China-Lithuania trade relations are fragile – minister
VILNIUS, Dec 07, BNS - Lithuania's bilateral trade situation with China is stabilizing two years after Beijing imposed trade restrictions on Lithuania, Lithuania' Economy and Innovation Minister Ausrine Armonaite says, warning, however, that this stability is fragile.
"Right now the situation is stabilizing, but as always when you do business with communist regimes or other regimes, you cannot be sure of your own ownership or the stability of that partnership," Armonaite told the Ziniu Radijas news radio on Thursday.
"We don't have the final figures for this year's exports yet. We had for January-September, and we see recovery in exports," the minister added.
She also pointed out that Lithuania's exports to China were not very high even before the deterioration of relations with Beijing.
Earlier, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said that Lithuanian and Chinese officials were talking about normalizing diplomatic relations. In an interview with Bloomberg in late November, he said that Lithuanian business remained cautious about trading with China.
By Greta Zulonaitė
Editor: Roma Pakėnienė
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Lithuanian panel to focus on 'dark money' allegedly used during last presidential election
VILNIUS, Dec 07, BNS – As the State Security Department's whistleblower Tomas Gailius on Wednesday testified to the Seimas' temporary inquiry commission about the possible non-transparent financing of the 2019 presidential election, the commission now plans to pay more attention to investigating whether the campaign in question could in fact have been financed by dark money.
Gailius, a former SSD officer, claimed he had seen information on the possible non-transparent financing of the 2019 presidential election campaign when he worked for the intelligence service.
"Yes, I saw such information while working for the department," Gailius, who decided to no longer hide his identity, told the commission in public testimony, asked by Vytautas Bakas, who chairs the commission.
Neither Bakas, nor Gailius named a particular candidate.
Gailius said he could not comment further on the question during a public hearing as it was classified information, and he only confirmed that he was really talking about the 2019 presidential election. The commission now plans to go deeper into this issue when Gailius testifies in private.
The public will know
Speaking with BNS on Thursday, Bakas said that the possible non-transparent financing of the 2019 presidential election campaign will now be an investigation priority.
"That line of inquiry, I think, will now be a priority, and we will go deeper into it, it is one of the serious versions of the commission's investigation that dark money may have been used during the presidential election campaign," Bakas said.
He said he could not answer where the suspicious moment came from, from Lithuania or outside, and only said that if the commission confirmed that, the public would be informed about this, despite the material currently under investigation being confidential.
He also could not say whether President Gitanas Nauseda or other candidates' election campaigns were referred to in the context of non-transparent financing.
Set up in October, the commission is, among other things, tasked to assess the financing costs of all candidates during the 2019 presidential election campaign and compare information to the monitoring data made public at the time.
The commission is also expected to find out what influence persons involved in Belarusian fertilizer business had on Nauseda, his election campaign staff and advisers, and what role they played in the campaign.
Nauseda checks
The temporary parliamentary inquiry commission is also looking into the whistleblower's provided information about the SSD leadership's actions in checking Nauseda's inner circle when he was running for president.
Gailius told the commission on Wednesday he turned to politicians four years ago because he suspected that his superiors might have committed "a disciplinary offense or even a crime".
Gailius also said that when presenting to Darius Jauniskis, the SSD director, the material collected by his team on Nauseda's inner circle, he realized that the confidential information could be disclosed to a person who had no right to access it
Following Gailius' testimony, the SSD confirmed on Wednesday that it followed the law when it vetted Nauseda's team when he was still a presidential candidate.
The issue of transparency of Nauseda's election campaign financing is raised in The Whistleblower and the President a book published early this year and partly based on Gailius' testimony.
By Milena Andrukaitytė
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Sustainable defense funding in Lithuania can only come from taxes – ruling block
VILNIUS, Dec 07, BNS - Sustainable defense funding can only come from one source – taxes – but a broader consensus among political parties on specific measures is needed, say the prime minister, the parliament speaker and the defense minister.
The idea of a defense tax has recently been raised by Laurynas Kasciunas, chair of the parliamentary Committee on National Security and Defense, after the presidential office earlier criticized next year's defense budget for not having funds for the State Defense Council's approved plan to create a land division within the country's army.
"We have no other sources, only taxes. This issue was raised a few months ago, and I myself proposed one option, that is, changing the corporate income tax, and all other options are also possible," Defense Minister Arvydas Anusauskas told reporters at the Seimas.
In the long term, he said, there's a need for sustainable financial sources, and taxes "are exactly that".
In his words, the cost of strengthening air defense capabilities and acquiring armored vehicles would cost several hundred million euros each.
His view is echoed by Speaker of the Seimas Viktorija Cmilyte-Nielsen who also says that, especially in the election year, the idea of new taxes "requires a consensus among all the political, at least parliamentary, parties".
"I would see a strong need to build on the best practices of the defense agreement to initiate a broad parliamentary discussion on the way forward in strengthening Lithuania's defense and security. The topic is very important, it is fundamental, and it is the basis of everything. But if it becomes one of the instruments of electoral battles, I doubt we will be able to achieve a result," she said.
For her part, Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte says it would be important to get the tax system itself in order and to harmonize taxation before raising taxes.
"The easiest way would be, of course, what is sometimes said in public, to simply increase one or another tax rate because this is a large base and means large revenue," the prime minister said.
"But it seems to me that we still have some internal problems within the tax system where that simple increase in one rate could mean a disproportionately higher burden for middle-income earners, which is already a problem within the Lithuanian tax system as due to the existing exemptions, people with the same income but in different ways are paying different taxes, so that people who are employed are paying much more tax on the same euro earned," she said.
Last summer, the Seimas gave its initial backing to a proposed tax reform that would, among other things, foresee higher taxes for people working under individual activity certificates, and broader real estate taxation.
As the reform subsequently stalled, the ruling conservative Homeland Union – Lithuanian Christian Democrats now want a separate law on real estate taxation. It went through the initial reading, but the vote on the adoption of these amendments has been postponed.
Simonyte admits that the amendments "have more to do with the question of fairness, hygiene" and would not lead to the collection of large additional amounts.
"If we are talking about large sums of money, we must be talking about one of the main taxes," she said.
Also last summer, the Defense Ministry proposed changing the existing conscription procedure by making service conditions more flexible and increasing the number of conscripts per year to around 5,000. The government is yet to discuss the proposed reform and submit it to the parliament. However, the bill does not include universal conscription.
Some members of the ruling block, including the prime minister and HU-LCD leader and Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis, as well as President Gitanas Nauseda, are calling for a renewed debate on universal conscription, but the idea does not enjoy broad support.
By Austėja Masiokaitė-Liubinienė
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Stalled US aid will still reach Ukraine – Lithuanian PM, defmin
VILNIUS, Dec 07, BNS - The stalled US aid to Ukraine is an unpleasant circumstance, Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte says. However, she and Defense Minister Arvydas Anusauskas believe it will eventually be approved.
Their comments came after Republican senators on Wednesday blocked a White House request for a 106 billion US dollar (97.4 billion euro) joint emergency aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, as Republicans objected to the bill's lack of immigration reforms.
"This is a problem because, on the one hand, there doesn't seem to be any doubt at the rhetorical level about the aid as, in general, there is a majority in favor of aid to Ukraine in the Senate and in the House of Representatives, in the Congress, (...) and it is a great pity that this issue, and not only of Ukraine, but also of Israel and of the overall aid package, it has become a hostage of domestic politics," the prime minister told reporters on Thursday.
She has no doubt that the aid package would be approved if it was put on the agenda.
"But it simply is not put the agenda. This is a very unpleasant circumstance, but I still think it is a circumstance, not a decision, but just a circumstance, and that sooner or later the decision will reach the voters and then the vote, I believe, will be a positive one," the prime minister said.
The defense minister said he discussed the issue with Republican senators during his recent visit to the United States and was assured that the issue would be resolved by mid-December.
As the Russian war in Ukraine continues, the aid issue will continue to be an issue in all countries, Anusauskas said.
"Yes, there are many domestic problems, but the Ukraine issue and the war in Ukraine and Russia's actions are destroying the international order, and if it collapses, it will cost tens of times more than it is now," the minister said.
Without US support, "it would be difficult for Ukraine", he said. Nevertheless, he remains optimistic on the issue and has no doubt that aid provision will be resumed.
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Minister sets up commission over Lithuanian passports of Abramovich's children
VILNIUS, Dec 07, BNS – Interior Minister Agne Bilotaite on Thursday set up a commission to look into the circumstances under which two children of Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich acquired Lithuanian citizenship.
The ministry also instructed the Migration Department to review the list of persons and entities subject to EU sanctions and check whether any family members of the sanctioned persons hold Lithuanian passports.
"The granting of citizenship cannot be a secret and a Lithuanian passport cannot be a cover for circumventing sanctions or for other abuses," Bilotaite said in a press release. "In this geopolitically complex period, the protection of personal data cannot take precedence over national security interests."
The Migration Department confirmed on Wednesday that two of Abramovich's children were granted citizenship before Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, but that he does not hold a Lithuanian passport.
Bilotaite also said that legislation is being drafted to allow stripping people of Lithuanian citizenship acquired by descent if they are deemed a threat to national security.
Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte said earlier on Thursday that if citizenship is acquired to bypass international sanctions, its revocation can be considered, even if it requires amending the country's laws.
Viktorija Cmilyte-Nielsen, speaker of the parliament, said she believes that the situation reveals the need to review the remaining loopholes in the law, which she expects to be done.
Siena, a Lithuanian investigative journalism center that contributed to an international investigation, has reported recently that Anna and Arkady Abramovich, who hold Lithuanian passports, may have helped their father circumvent international sanctions.
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Over 32,000 Ukrainian soldiers trained under UK-led Operation Interflex – Lithuanian army
VILNIUS, Dec 07, BNS – The third rotation of Lithuanian military instructors are returning from UK-led Operation Interflex, which has trained a total of over 32,000 Ukrainian soldiers so far, the Lithuanian Armed Forces said on Thursday.
Lithuania's military instructors have trained about 2,300 members of the Ukrainian Armed Forces this year, including about 500 under the UK-led operation.
The Lithuanian Armed Forces plan to continue to participate in Operation Interflex and the European Union Military Assistance Mission in support of Ukraine (EUMAM Ukraine), and to contribute to the basic military training of Ukrainian service members, according to the press release.
Lithuanian instructors train Ukrainian troops under around 50 different training programs, it said.
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Lithuania's conscription reform opens way for universal male draft – minister
VILNIUS, Dec 07, BNS – Lithuanian Defense Minister Arvydas Anusauskas said on Thursday that his ministry's proposed conscription reform creates the legal prerequisites for a universal military draft for men.
His comment comes as his ministry prepares to submit the draft conscription reform to the government for approval.
According to the minister, universality in conscription can be achieved by the new model where studying at a higher education establishment will not be treated as an exception allowing service deferral.
"In this case, we are talking about a reform that eliminates exceptions that prevented calling up everyone, well, except women," he told BNS on Thursday.
The draft reform proposals include making it mandatory for higher education students to do their military service either by enrolling in the Junior Officer Command Training Program or by joining the National Defense Volunteer Force, thus combining their service with studies.
The reform will also allow conscripts to choose either six months or nine months of basic compulsory military service.
The conscription age limit would be set at 18-21 years, instead of 18-23 years currently.
According to Anusauskas, with these changes in place and adjustments to the annually set maximum number of conscripts, it will be possible to call up as many young people as needed at that time.
The military estimate that each year up to 7,000 young men graduate from school and are fit for service.
"We are proposing a legal framework, a tool for how to conduct conscription and who falls under it," said Anusauskas. "How many will be called up is determined by another law."
The reform has yet to be approved by the government and the parliament.
The Defense Ministry is planning to submit it to the Cabinet "in the coming weeks", according to the minister.
By Augustas Stankevičius, Saulius Jakučionis
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Businesses transporting Russian food behave immorally but legally – Lithuanian PM
VILNIUS, Dec 7, BNS - Businesses transporting Russian grain and food products through Lithuania are behaving immorally but legally, Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte says.
"As you know, food products - and this is a key provision of the EU and international sanction policy - are exempted from the existing sanctions as far as the availability of food is concerned. Neither when transported to Russia, nor from Russia," the prime minister said during the Government Hour in the Seimas on Thursday.
"That doesn’t mean that I think that people who have a business, even related food products, and have some kind of commercial relationship with Russia are behaving morally. It seems far from it to me, but they are behaving legally," the prime minister added.
She also vowed to look into the volumes of Russian grain and food products transported via Lithuania.
"I will certainly check how much grain is handled by the port of Klaipeda, what are the import, export and transit data," she said.
Agriculture Minister Kestutis Navickas said earlier that Russian grain was being transported through Latvian ports but it did not enter the Lithuanian port of Klaipeda. Nevertheless, he did not rule out that Russian grain could be imported by falsifying its documents of origin.
Ausrys Macijauskas, the president of the Lithuanian Association of Grain Growers, said that about one million tons of grain have been imported from Russia into Latvia so far, calling on the the Lithuanian government to ensure that it does not enter Lithuania from Latvia.
By Sniegė Balčiūnaitė
Editor: Roma Pakėnienė
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New Russia sanction package to put more responsibility on EU firms – Lithuanian official
VILNIUS, Dec 07, BNS – The European Union's 12th package of sanctions against Russia will likely make EU companies responsible for the movement of their goods and oblige some of them to control their financial flows outside the bloc, Lithuanian Deputy Foreign Minister Jovita Neliupsiene said on Thursday.
"The 12th sanctions package will actually have a bigger impact on businesses, despite the sanctions being targeted at Russia. There will be an obligation to tighten responsibility throughout the whole trade chain," Neliupsiene said at the Sanctions Management Forum in Vilnius.
"Contracts will have to contain requirements, where the buyer will commit not to sell or export sanctioned goods to Russia and to demand certain guarantees," she said.
The 12th package will include restrictions on high-tech and information technology services, and the laser industry, according to Neliupsiene.
The official said that the package will tighten the control of financial flows of EU-based companies controlled by Russian-linked persons outside the bloc.
"Authorization for the transfer of funds outside the European Union will be required for EU companies owned by Russian entities or controlled by Russian persons," she said.
The vice-minister underlined that Russia's growing GDP does not mean that international sanctions have no impact on the country's economy.
By Giedrius Gaidamavičius
Editor: Roma Pakėnienė
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Government's promises to teachers will "hang in the air" – Lithuanian president
VILNIUS, Dec 07, BNS - The government's promises to teachers to increase their salaries will "hang in the air", Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said on Thursday, commenting on the state budget adopted by the Seimas earlier this week.
Teachers' salaries may not reach the promised 130 percent of the national average wage next year, he said, contrary to the promises made by the ruling block.
"Unfortunately, we have not delivered on what we promised teachers. Yes, we made new promises instead of the old ones, that maybe we will change something, borrow something, revise something in the course of the year, but the fact remains that we will not reach 130 percent at this pace, and the promises made to teachers will hang in the air," Nauseda told a press conference on Thursday.
He vows to closely monitor the country's economic forecasts next year and remind the government of the promises made to teachers.
"I think teachers' issues remain unresolved," Nauseda said.
The government plans to raise teachers' pay by 10 percent from January and September after this proposal was approved with the state budget.
Andrius Navickas, the leader of the Lithuanian Education Employees; Trade Union, asked the president on Wednesday to veto the budget after the Seimas failed to take the requests to raise teachers' salaries by 15 percent in two phases into account.
The president says he will have a thorough look at the budget before deciding whether to sign it.
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Lithuanian President Nauseda will seek re-election
Updated version: updates throughout
VILNIUS, Dec 07, BNS – Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda announced on Thursday his decision to seek re-election next year.
"I am determined and committed to continue the started work. I will run for president in May 2024 and I hope that the people of Lithuania will give me a strong mandate of trust, as they did in 2019," Nauseda told a press conference at the Presidential Palace on Thursday.
Nausda says his attitudes have not changed since 2019 when he first ran for president.
"I want to say that whatever I am, I cannot be accused of changing my opinions or changing my attitudes," the president said, adding that he still has unfinished work.
Big choice
The president refrained to assess his chances in next year's presidential election.
"I think all the candidates should be respected, each of them comes with their own vision, their own ideas, and I think it's good that we will have a big choice, and my goal is to diversify that choice," Nauseda said.
Public opinion polls show Nauseda, 59, is the clear favorite to win the presidential election next year.
Asked about his slogan and team, the president said the answers would be provided "when the time comes", adding that his election team will include people he trusts.
The president also assured that the resources of the presidential office would not be used for the election campaign, adding that the election campaign would not interfere with his direct duties.
Tectonic shifts
At the press conference, Nauseda highlighted the "tectonic shifts" that have taken place during his four years as president. He mentioned the agreements on the deployment of a German brigade in Lithuania, to allocate more than 2 percent of the country's GDP to defense, and others.
"All this allows me to say that Lithuania is safer than ever in terms of external threats," Nauseda said.
The president also highlighted the success in withstanding the consequences of rising energy prices, talked about people with disabilities and the country's progress in this area, and explained that the welfare state is "about reducing exclusion."
Nauseda also spoke about local government institutions that, he said, had demonstrated their activeness in dealing with the coronavirus pandemic, illegal migrants and supporting Ukraine.
Nauseda was elected president in 2019, defeating incumbent Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte in the runoff.
His main rivals are Simonyte and lawyer Ignas Vegele. The latter has already announced his plans to run for president earlier this month.
In total, more than ten people have announced their plans to run for president in May.
By Saulius Jakučionis, Greta Zulonaitė
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Lithuanian president skeptical of draft amendments to revoke citizenship by descent
VILNIUS, Dec 07, BNS – President Gitanas Nauseda is skeptical about the Interior Ministry's draft amendments that would allow stripping people of Lithuanian citizenship acquired by descent if they are deemed a threat to national security.
"It's not very good to start amending our laws, targeting them at a specific case or specific individuals," the president told reporters on Thursday.
Interior Minister Agne Bilotaite's announcement that her ministry has drafted such amendments followed a report by Siena, a Lithuanian investigative journalism center that contributed to an international investigation, that two of Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich's children, Anna and Arkady, hold Lithuanian passports and may have helped their father circumvent international sanctions.
According to Bilotaite, the amendments allowing the revocation, on the grounds of a threat to national security, of Lithuanian citizenship granted on the basis of descent have been drafted and are currently being coordinated with other authorities.
"We have done this before, yes, we have found justifiable reasons for it, but if it becomes a widespread practice, I don't think our state will follow the path of the rule of law," Nauseda said.
He was referring to certain amendment to the Law on Citizenship adopted by the parliament earlier this year.
The amendments allow stripping a dual citizen of their Lithuanian citizenship granted by exception if the person publicly expresses support for a state that poses a threat to Lithuania or its allies' security interests.
The law was applied to deprive Margarita Drobiazko of her Lithuanian citizenship, with the authorities citing the Russian ice dancer's public support for the Kremlin regime as grounds for the action.
Commenting on the Lithuanian citizenship held by Abramovich's children, Nauseda said that the Lithuanian authorities must verify if it was granted in compliance with the law.
Among other things, the authorities must look into whether the Russian billionaire's children have helped him to circumvent EU sanctions, according to the president.
"If this turns out to be the case, we have the possibility to take action under other Lithuanian laws," he said.
The international investigation has revealed that the Lithuanian passports of Arkady and Anna Abramovich were used in transactions that experts see as an attempt to circumvent the sanctions imposed on the billionaire following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year.
Abramovich's children were allegedly involved in changing the management structure of his assets.
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Elections in US, other countries will affect Ukraine aid discussion – Lithuanian president
VILNIUS, Dec 07, BNS – Discussions on international decisions on helping Ukraine will have to take the election factor in the United States and other Western countries into account, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda says.
On Wednesday, Republican senators blocked a White House request for a 106 billion US dollar (97.4 billion euro) joint emergency aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, after Democrats refused to fund measures to fight illegal migration
"The situation is not simple. I certainly don't want to wrap my words up in pretty cotton wool and say that everything is fine," the president told reporters on Thursday. "Certain things are changing internationally, and political cycles are changing in different countries, including the big ones. They are also changing in some EU countries, so we will have to take the election factor into account when it comes to decisions that are vital for Ukraine."
Nauseda vows do everything he can for Ukraine to continue receiving support and for partners not to turn away from Ukraine at a crucial stage of the war.
Nauseda hopes that the EU will be able to agree on billions of euros in support for Ukraine, although he acknowledged that some EU members are skeptical about this proposal.
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Upcoming events in Lithuania for Friday, December 8, 2023
VILNIUS, Dec 08, BNS – The following events are scheduled in Lithuania for Friday, December 8, 2023:
PRIME MINISTER Ingrida Simonyte attend a Chanukah candle-lighting ceremony at Vilnius' at 10 a.m.; to chair a meeting of the commission in charge of monitoring power synchronization with continental Europe at 11 a.m.
DEFENSE MINISTER Arydas Anusauskas to inspect army unit in Klaipeda.
CULTURE MINISTER Simonas Kairys to attend the 2023 European Film Awards in Berlin
JUSTICE MINISTER Ewelina Dobrowolska to attend a discussion on the ECHR and Lithuania.
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