LITHUANIA DAILY NEWS BULLETIN

IN THIS ISSUE:

1. Upcoming events in Lithuania for Thursday, December 1, 2022
2. Poland to take lead of NATO Baltic air policing mission, to be joined by French jets
3. Lithuanian formin to attend OSCE Ministerial Council meeting in Lodz
4. No migrants turned away on Lithuania-Belarus border for 1st time in 3 weeks
5. Lithuania reports 487 new COVID-19 cases, no deaths
6. Lithuania to send winter clothing worth more than EUR 2 mln to Ukrainian troops
7. UN committee's treatment of Vilnius' Soviet statue situation 'not insightful' – minister
8. Lithuania submits EC request for EUR 565 mln RRF payout
9. Lithuanian National Drama Theater sacks Korusnovas for negligence
10. Lithuania submits EC request for EUR 565 mln RRF payout (expands)
11. Lithuanian army chief calls US Pennsylvania Guard one of Baltic security guarantors
12. Lithuania to send generators, diesel heaters bought by people, businesses to Ukraine
13. Oil sanctions will affect 15 pct of Kaliningrad transit – Lithuanian PM
14. Lithuanian PM sees EU's debated Russian oil price cap as too high  
15. Lithuanian PM on German brigade dilemma: commitment or infrastructure first
16. Lithuanian Football Federation set to bar convicted persons from executive committee
17. Sacked Korsunovas says he was subjected to mobbing
18. Poland takes lead of NATO Baltic air policing mission, reinforced by French jets (updates)
19. Employee of Russia's Embassy to Lithuania declared persona non grata – ForMin
20. Lithuanian president signs 2023 budget package into law

Upcoming events in Lithuania for Thursday, December 1, 2022

VILNIUS, Dec 01, BNS – The following events are scheduled in Lithuania for Thursday, December 1, 2022:

PRESIDENT Gitanas Nauseda to meet with President of the Chamber of Deputies of Luxembourg Fernand Etgen at 9.30 a.m.

SPEAKER OF THE SEIMAS Viktorija Cmilyte-Nielsen to meet with President of the Chamber of Deputies of Luxembourg Fernand Etgen at 8.50 a.m.; to attend a meeting of Lithuanian and Belarusian journalists at 9.30 a.m.

PRIME MINISTER Ingrida Simonyte's interview with Reuters NEXT at 11.30 a.m.

NATIONAL DEFENSE MINISTER Arvydas Anusauskas to meet with the UK ambassador at 9 a.m.

FOREIGN MINISTER Gabrielius Landsbergis to attend a meeting OSCE in Lodz.

THE ARMED FORCES

The hand over-take over ceremony for the NATO Baltic Air Policing Mission to take place at the Lithuanian Air Force Base in Siauliai at 10.30 a.m. as the Polish contingent will continue safeguarding the Baltic airspace with four F-16 and France is sending four Rafale fighter aircraft for the very first time to Lithuania.

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Poland to take lead of NATO Baltic air policing mission, to be joined by French jets

VILNIUS, Dec 01, BNS – Poland is taking over the lead of NATO's Baltic air policing mission in a ceremony at Lithuania’s military air base in Siauliai on Thursday, to be reinforced by France's most powerful fighter aircraft, the Defense Ministry has said.

The Polish Air Force is staying in Lithuania after completing its rotation in a reinforcement role and is taking over the lead role from Hungary with four F-16 fighter jets.  

The mission will be reinforced by a contingent from France that is deploying four Rafale fighter aircraft to Lithuania for the first time. 

 

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Lithuanian formin to attend OSCE Ministerial Council meeting in Lodz

VILNIUS, Dec 01, BNS – Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis is taking part in an annual meeting of the Ministerial Council of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in the Polish city of Lodz on Thursday. 

The foreign ministers of OSCE participating states are meeting for the first time since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry has said.   

Landsbergis will address the Ministerial Council's plenary session and take part in a dinner discussion on how to ensure the effectiveness of the OSCE's decision-making and strengthen the organization's mandate and credibility in fulfilling states' common commitments.  

The Lithuanian delegation will also participate in events to discuss Russia's responsibility for its war crimes in Ukraine, and the human rights situation in Belarus.

 

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No migrants turned away on Lithuania-Belarus border for 1st time in 3 weeks

VILNIUS, Dec 01, 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.

his marks the first time since November 9 that no irregular migrants have been turned away, it said. 

Latvia recorded 22 attempts to cross the border illegally on Wednesday, and Polish border guards denied entry to 46 irregular migrants on Tuesday, according to the latest available information.

The daily number of migrants refused entry to Lithuania reached this year's high of 135 on September 20, nine fewer than the highest-ever number recorded on November 12, 2021.

A total of almost 10,800 irregular migrants have been stopped from entering Lithuania since January.

Lithuanian border guards have sent around 18,900 people back to Belarus since August 3, 2021, when they were given the right to deny entry to irregular migrants. The number includes repeated attempts by the same people to cross the border.

The SBGS says that illegal migration to Lithuania and the EU is being facilitated by Belarusian officials. 

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

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

 

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Lithuania reports 487 new COVID-19 cases, no deaths

VILNIUS, Dec 01, BNS – Lithuania has recorded 487 new coronavirus infections and no deaths from COVID-19 over the past 24 hours, official statistics showed on Thursday morning.

Of the new cases, 346 were primary, 125 were secondary and 15 were tertiary. One person was diagnosed with the virus for the fourth time. 

The number of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 now stands at 111, including five ICU cases.

The 14-day primary infection rate has edged up to 143.4 cases per 100,000 people, with the seven-day percentage of positive tests up to 19.8 percent.

The daily number of new coronavirus cases remains well below the peak of over 14,000 reached in early February.

More than 1.2 million people in Lithuania have tested positive with COVID-19 at least once.

Some 70 percent of the Lithuanian population have received at least one coronavirus vaccine jab so far.

 

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Lithuania to send winter clothing worth more than EUR 2 mln to Ukrainian troops

VILNIUS, Dec 01, BNS – Lithuania's Ministry of National Defense will send winter clothing worth more than 2 million euros to about 25,000 Ukrainian soldiers in December, the ministry said on Thursday.

The warm outerwear and underwear will be purchased from Lithuanian companies Audimas Supply, Omniteksas and Jurgava, the ministry said. It later told BNS that it would buy clothes from Omniteksas for around 1 million euros and from Jurgava for around 200,000 euros. 

Vice Minister of National Defense Vilius Semeska said on Wednesday the ministry would buy another 1.16 million euros worth of clothing from Audimas Supply.

"The Defense Materiel Agency under the Ministry of National Defense has entered into a contract with Audimas Supply for the purchase of warm jumpers for 1.16 million euros," he posted on Facebook on Wednesday.

The ministry also said the company had decided to make additional clothes for the Ukrainian army at its own expense and would hand over one thousand fleece jumpers free of charge in addition to the clothing bought by the ministry.

"We thank Lithuanian businesses for their solidarity with the country that is defending itself against the aggression and fighting for its freedom. All people of good will in Lithuania stand together with Ukraine in this difficult time, and even minor help can be of vital importance," Minister of National Defense Arvydas Anusauskas was quoted as saying in the ministry's statement.

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UN committee's treatment of Vilnius' Soviet statue situation 'not insightful' – minister

VILNIUS, Dec 01, BNS – The United Nations Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) failed to look deeper into the situation when it barred Vilnius from removing the statues of Soviet World War Two soldiers from the Lithuanian capital's Antakalnis Cemetery, Culture Minister Simonas Kairys said on Thursday. 

"The key thing is that we have to talk in various international formats and with various international organizations, because that treatment is actually not quite correct and insightful," he told the Ziniu Radijas radio station. 

Vilnius' municipality started removing the Soviet statues from the cemetery on Wednesday, with the work expected to take up to three weeks to complete.

The statues are being taken down despite the UNHRC decision to impose interim measures formally barring Vilnius' authorities from doing so.

The committee imposed the interim measures based on a petition signed by several individuals calling themselves "ethnic Russians", including Kazimieras Juraitis, a man who went to meet with Belarus' authorities earlier this year, and Dmitrij Glazkov, Tatiana Brandt, and Anastasija Brandt.

The Interior Ministry and municipal officials say that the committee was misled by the arguments of the petitioners who claim that the Soviet-era monument will be desecrated and the nearby remains reburied.

"In my opinion, the most important thing here is the Geneva Convention, and what Vilnius is doing does not go against it," said Kairys.

The dismantling of the statues is not about reburying the remains, but about discarding "symbols of a regime that killed and raped", according to the minister. 

"We are talking about ideological monuments that insult our nation and our state, and, I'd say, even broadcast a message about a falsified interpretation of history," he said. 

The municipality plans to transfer the sculptures to the National Museum of Lithuania after they are removed.

 

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Lithuania submits EC request for EUR 565 mln RRF payout

VILNIUS, Dec 01, BNS - Lithuania has submitted its first request to the European Commission for a 565 million euro grant from the European Union's Recovery and Resilience Facility after a slight delay. 

Lithuania is expected to receive the funding after the EC's positive assessment, the Finance Ministry said.

Once a payment request is submitted, it usually takes the EC two months to assess it, and upon approval by the EU Council, funds are allocated – in Lithuania's case – for the first 33 indicators.

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Lithuanian National Drama Theater sacks Korusnovas for negligence

VILNIUS, Dec 01, BNS - The Lithuanian National Drama Theater said on Thursday it had sacked its artistic director Oskaras Korsunovas.

In its statement, the theater's administration said the director's failure to perform his direct duties and systemic absenteeism were behind the decision.

"We regret having to take this step but we can no longer tolerate persistent breaches of work discipline. We have talked to the director, hoping for a change for some time, but, unfortunately, we have not received a positive result," Martynas Budraitis, director general at LNDT, said.

Korsunovas was appointed the theater's artistic director in February, 2021.

The theater's management had already considered dismissing Korsunovas back in March after he appeared intoxicated on the country's public television LRT.

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Lithuania submits EC request for EUR 565 mln RRF payout (expands)

VILNIUS, Dec 01, BNS - Lithuania has submitted its first request to the European Commission for a 565 million euro grant from the European Union's Recovery and Resilience Facility after a slight delay. 

Lithuania is expected to receive the funding after the EC's positive assessment, the Finance Ministry said.

Finance Minister Gintare Skaiste says this is a significant step in carrying out the country's recovery and resilience plan, named New Generation Lithuania. 

"The plan consists not only of investments, but also of reforms, which usually take somewhat longer to implement," she said in a press release on Thursday. "We have implemented half of the reform actions in the first year, and we are moving forward with confidence."  

The plan consists of 191 indicators, progress on which is monitored together with Commission experts. Once a payment request is submitted, it usually takes the EC two months to assess it, and upon approval by the EU Council, funds are allocated – in Lithuania's case – for the first 33 indicators, according to the Finance Ministry.

Skaiste admitted earlier that the application to the EC had been delayed because some of the work had not been completed as scheduled, but promised to do so by the end of the year. 

The minister also said that in its request, Lithuania would propose to amend the RRF plan so as to ask not only for a subsidy, but also for a loan to develop renewable energy. 

The Finance Ministry told BNS earlier that the country would ask for a loan of around 1 billion euros for the development of renewable energy sources, energy efficiency and cyber security.

It was said that the application to the EU's executive body had been delayed because of failure to adopt certain decisions on the establishment of the Sustainable Mobility Fund and on a universal real estate tax. 

The Finance Ministry said on Wednesday that it had improved its draft bill on a new personal property tax model and was submitting it to the Cabinet for approval. 

In early November, it was said that the government had postponed its first request to the EC because of its failure to do the "homework" as scheduled.

Marius Vascega, head of the European Commission Representation in Lithuania, then told BNS that it was up to the government to decide when to apply for funding, but stressed that the pace of reforms and investment was important.

It was said earlier that Lithuania would be eligible for up to 3 billion euros in loans and 2.225 billion euros in grants under the Recovery and Resilience Facility. 

 

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Lithuanian army chief calls US Pennsylvania Guard one of Baltic security guarantors

VILNIUS, Dec 01, BNS –The United States' Pennsylvania National Guard is one of the security guarantors in the Baltic region, says Chief of Defense of Lithuania Valdemaras Rupsys as he's visiting the United States ahead of the 30th anniversary of cooperation with the Pennsylvania National Guard.

"Next year, we will celebrate the 30th anniversary of our cooperation as the Pennsylvania National Guard strengthens the Lithuanian Armed Forces and is one of the guarantors of security and defense in the Baltic region," the Lithuanian army chief was quoted as saying in a statement released on Thursday.

He thanked the Pennsylvania National Guard for its support to the development of Lithuania's military capability and infrastructure, saying that the expertise and interoperability "fully strengthens" the Lithuanian Armed Forces.

Rupsys also met with Adjutant General of Pennsylvania Major General Mark J. Schindler and also visited the PANG training facility for Air Force pilots and maintenance specialists where Lithuanian Air Force troops will be trained to operate the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters Lithuania's buying.

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Lithuania to send generators, diesel heaters bought by people, businesses to Ukraine

VILNIUS, Dec 01, BNS - The first generators and diesel heaters bought by Lithuanian residents and business will be send from Lithuania to Ukraine on Thursday under the Warm up Ukraine initiative in cooperation with Strong Together and the Lithuanian National Museum of Art.

"The whole point of this initiative is to pool people and encourage them to donate money and buy generators, heaters and other equipment," Edmundas Jakilaitis, one of the initiators of the Strong Together initiative, told reporters on Thursday.

The first batch of generators and diesel heaters was bought by Strong Together for the money previously donated by residents and businesses. The campaign organizers say the first batch includes 15 heaters, 20 generators and 55 multi-purpose lights, as well as fuel, tanks and lubricants.

Jakilaitis said the first consignment is valued at about 65,000 euros and will be sent to western Ukraine, adding that the organizers hope to buy and send 2,000 generators to the Ukrainians by the end of the winter. They plan to raise around 2 million euros for this purpose.

All collected and purchased equipment will be sent to Ukrainian refugee and rehabilitation centers, cultural institutions and museums that have been turned into multifunctional facilities.

"We wanted to support Ukraine with a simple message. The message today is very clear: winter is coming, winter has already come, and it's getting colder. We believe that today heat generators are that weapon we need to defend ourselves from the aggressor," Arunas Gelunas, the head of the LNMA, said.

On Wednesday, the Ukrainian authorities reported that nine people had died in fires cross the country over the previous day. As Russia continues to target the country's energy infrastructure, Ukrainians are forced to look for alternative sources of heating. 

Moscow's air strikes have disrupted electricity and water supplies for millions of people over the past few weeks, forcing many people to resort to the use of emergency generators and gas cylinders.

By Paulius Perminas

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Oil sanctions will affect 15 pct of Kaliningrad transit – Lithuanian PM

VILNIUS, Dec 01, BNS –The Western sanctions on Russian oil, set to come into force later this month, will affect about 15 percent of the cargo transit to Kaliningrad via Lithuania, Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte says.

"At the beginning of December, this list (of sanctioned goods – BNS) will become longer, and I guess that around 15 percent of goods that go from mainland Russia to Kaliningrad will be affected by the sanctions because the remaining part of goods are under no sanctions, no limitations whatsoever," Simonyte said in an interview with Reuters NEXT on Thursday.

The ban on Russian oil and its products going through Lithuania to Kaliningrad will come into force on December 5 or February 5, 2023, depending on the specific commodity code.

Under the EU's previously-adopted sanction package, Russian steel and other ferrous metal products have been banned from transiting through the EU since June 17. Also, a separate ban on the transit of cement, alcohol, wood, glass, glass, aluminum, paper products, gypsum, ship parts, came into force on July 10, and a ban on coal and other solid fossil fuels came into force on August 10.

On July 13, the European Commission allowed Russia to transport sanctioned goods to and from Kaliningrad via Lithuania only for the needs of this exclave and only by rail, but the volumes must be in line with the average of goods taken by rail over the last three years.

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Lithuanian PM sees EU's debated Russian oil price cap as too high  

VILNIUS, Dec 01, BNS – The price cap that the European Union is currently debating for Russian crude oil exports is too high, Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte said on Thursday, without specifying what the price cap should be.

"Hopefully, there will be agreement on a price cap that will really work because there is a debate about how high it should be and I think it should be definitely low enough to bring all sorts of discomfort to Russia," Simonyte said in an online interview at the Reuters NEXT conference. 

"I think that the price that has been debated so far is a little bit too high," she said. 

On Monday, EU ambassadors debated whether to set the cap at 62 US dollars per barrel. However, several EU diplomats told Euractiv that Poland, together with Lithuania and Estonia, is pushing for a significantly lower cap of around 30 dollars.

According to Simonyte, the current oil market price and other benchmarks have to be looked at when setting the price cap. 

"I would say that there is a couple of benchmarks to look at: there is the market price, which is currently around 65, I think, for euros and there is the price the budget is balanced at," the prime minister said. "Our interest is not to make Russia’s life easier, but to make Russia's life more complicated." 

"My message is that we need to have patience. Because there are no sanctions that can switch Russia off overnight. It is not possible, we should not look for this," she added.

 

By Valdas Pryšmantas

Editor: Roma Pakėnienė

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Lithuanian PM on German brigade dilemma: commitment or infrastructure first

VILNIUS, Dec 01, BNS – Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte has compared the ongoing issue of the deployment of a German brigade in Lithuania to the chicken and the egg dilemma as the country needs to decide whether commitment or infrastructure should come first.

"It is like a tango as you need two to get a result. At this point, we might be in a sort of a debate on the chicken and the egg, whether there should be infrastructure or whether there should be a committed brigade for the needs, I would say, not only of Lithuania but also of the broader region," the Lithuanian prime minister said in an interview at the Reuters NEXT conference on Thursday.

She also stressed that the necessary infrastructure could not be built overnight, but Lithuania is "committed and we are ready to do this".

"So hopefully, we will find ways and means to agree with our German colleagues about what is the optimal decision for NATO and our countries," the prime minister said.

In June, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda and German Chancellor Olaf Schulz signed a joint communique stating that "in addition to the current and reinforced enhanced Forward Presence Battle Group already in place, Germany is ready to lead a robust and combat-ready brigade in Lithuania dedicated to deter and defend against Russian aggression".

Vilnius wants a full rotational German brigade to be permanently deployed in the country. Berlin officials, however, have said numerous times that part of the brigade promised by Berlin would be deployed in Lithuania and the rest would stay at home.

Germany has so far only deployed the planned brigade's forward command element to Lithuania.

Germany also leads an international NATO battle group stationed in Lithuanian since 2017.

Speaking on supplying Ukraine with arms, the Lithuanian prime minister pointed out although Western arms stocks are depleting, it's still crucial to provide Ukraine with proper weapons as it's defending itself against Russia.

"The real problem is that Russia can sit on a sofa and fire their missiles from the stocks of unknown quantity rather than fight on the battleground because their performance on the battleground is really very poor and Ukraine is performing great," Simonyte said.

Simonyte also talked about her "slightly undiplomatic" opinion of Belarus and doubted whether it could still be considered a separate country after the 2020 presidential election when the country's authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko lost all legitimacy.

"The key question is how self-sufficient Lukashenko is in the decisions that he's making. This looks more like a province than a sovereign country," Simonyte said.

Asked about her expectations for 2023, the Lithuanian prime minister said she would like to finally stop solving crises and get back to implementing the government agenda. She acknowledged, however, it's impossible to predict when this crisis would end, unlike the previous ones.

"Contrary to the previous episodes, the real problem is that I do not know when this will end. In the case of any pandemic, you know that you need vaccines and as soon as they are produced and are widely available, that will subside over some reasonable period. With war, we cannot predict anything because it is unpredictable," Simonyte said. "So I can just hope that next year is the year that will bring peace to Europe."

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Lithuanian Football Federation set to bar convicted persons from executive committee

VILNIUS, Dec 01, BNS – The Lithuanian Football Federation (LFF) has drafted new statutes that, among other things, will bar persons convicted of criminal offences in the past from sitting on its Executive Committee. 

According to LFF President Tomas Danilevicius, the final draft statutes were agreed on at the Executive Committee's meeting on Wednesday and are expect to be approved at the federation's extraordinary conference on December 21.

"We had a considerable discussion on the issue of impeccable reputation, which UEFA and FIFA are proposing to include (into the statutes)," Danilevicius told a news conference on Thursday. 

"After discussing this concept, we came to the conclusion that UEFA will turn to independent lawyers and ask them to give an opinion on whether this concept complies with all Lithuanian laws," he said.

The federation has drafted the statutes together with two international football organizations, FIFA and UEFA.  

Luca Nicola, head of national associations governance and global institutions at UEFA, said that these nuances are expected to be clarified with the lawyers before the LFF extraordinary conference in December so that the provision can be included in the statutes.

The statutes will be relevant when planning new elections of the federation's president, Executive Committee and other governing bodies next spring.

The current reputation requirements for the LFF leadership is an issue that has caused the most controversy, as the organization's current statutes allow individuals convicted of minor or less serious crimes to be elected to its governing bodies, provided that their convictions have expired.

Four individuals with past conviction records, including Arunas Pukelis, are currently sitting on the LFF Executive Committee. 

The new statutes will include the requirement "not to have been found guilty of any criminal offence (and to) have an impeccable integrity record", according to Nicola. 

"That's our proposal and it's our opinion that is in line with Lithuanian legislation, but again, this will be checked (...). Anyone, who has been found guilty of a criminal offence in the past is not eligible to sit on the Executive Committee," he said.  

The LFF began to work on its new statutes after the parliament began to consider temporarily placing the federation under the state's direct management so as to amend the document, which sets out the organization's basic principles, on its own initiative.

In recent years, the LFF has been criticized for poor sports results and for some of its officials' alleged links to the criminal world.

According to Danilevicius, the LFF plans to hold its 2023 electoral conference by April 30 to elect its new president and vice-president, and the Executive Committee and independent legal bodies.

The new statutes will also put in place changes as to the election and composition of the Executive Committee. The committee will have 16 members, delegated by the country's regional football organizations and several football associations.

The LFF Conference, the federation's highest governing body, be composed of 32 members, also delegated from regions and individual organizations.  

 

By Ignas Jačauskas

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Sacked Korsunovas says he was subjected to mobbing

VILNIUS, Dec 01, BNS – Stage director Oskaras Korsunovas, the sacked artistic director of the Lithuanian National Drama Theater (LNDT), says he had no freedom to create and was subjected to mobbing as he was not invited to meetings and did not take part in formation of the theater's repertoire. 

"Basically, mobbing started as there were meetings I was not invited to. The days I missed were counted, even though nobody goes to the theater as everybody was working online as there's nowhere to go, there are no offices," Korsunovas told BNS on Thursday. 

"What happened is logical. It was not spontaneous, they were getting ready for that, the days of my absence were counted, and mobbing has been going on for a year," Korsunovas said, speaking about his dismissal, adding that he has no intention to appeal against the dismissal since he sees no point in it.

Korsunovas said he was invited to work at the LNDT at the request of the actors and his task was to "activate the theater group". 

According to the director, initially there was cooperation between him and the management, and a five-year strategy for the theater was prepared, but later on, Korsunovas claims, he was eliminated.

"I was eliminated as the artistic director and I couldn’t work in any substantial way. The artistic director is supposed to know the theater's financial situation, to form the repertoire, to attend meetings, and there was nothing of that. I was denied access to the estimates, the repertoires were drawn up without me, and productions were cancelled, including my own, such as Expulsion, Tartuffe or Cathedral," Korsunovas said.

He points out that he has worked at various theater around the world but has "never seen such a thing", where the group wants to cooperate and "the manager says no".

Earlier in the day, the LNDT said it had sacked Korsunovas for his failure to perform his direct duties and systemic absenteeism.

Korsunovas was appointed the theater's artistic director in February, 2021.

The theater's management had reportedly considered dismissing Korsunovas back in March after he appeared intoxicated on the country's public television LRT.

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Poland takes lead of NATO Baltic air policing mission, reinforced by French jets (updates)

VILNIUS, Dec 01, BNS – Poland took over the lead of NATO's Baltic air policing mission on Thursday, with France's most powerful fighter aircraft reinforcing the mission, the Lithuanian Defense Ministry said.

"NATO air defense is crucial today. Back in Madrid, NATO countries agreed to bolster their deterrence and defense capabilities, including air defense," it quoted Deputy Defense Minister Vilius Semeska as saying during the changeover ceremony at Lithuania's military air base in Siauliai. 

"We acknowledge that air defense capabilities should play a greater role in ensuring the security of the Baltic skies," he added. 

The Polish Air Force is staying in Lithuania after completing its rotation in a reinforcement role and is taking over the lead role from Hungary with four F-16 fighter jets.  

France has deployed four Rafale fighter aircraft to Lithuania for the first time to reinforce the mission. This is the French Air and Space Force's ninth Baltic air policing rotation overall and its sixth deployment in Lithuania.   

The outgoing Hungarian detachment carried out the mission with four JAS-39 Grippen fighter jets. 

The mission is currently being augmented by the German Air Force with four Eurofighter jets from the Estonian air base in Amari.

NATO member countries have taken turns safeguarding Baltic airspace since Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania joined the Alliance back in 2004.

 

 

 

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Employee of Russia's Embassy to Lithuania declared persona non grata – ForMin

VILNIUS, Dec 01, BNS – An employee of the Russian Embassy to Lithuania was on Thursday declared a persona non grata for activities incompatible with his diplomatic status, the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry said.

An embassy representative was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs where he was handed a diplomatic note declaring an employee of Russia's Embassy persona non grata in Lithuania "for activities incompatible with his diplomatic status".

The employee was ordered to leave the country within five days, according to the statement.

It's a fourth time that Russian diplomats are sent out of the country since the start of Russia's war in Ukraine.

In March, Lithuanian sent four Russian diplomat out "in solidarity with Ukraine, which has been facing the unprecedented Russian military aggression", the ministry said.

In response to the massacre in Kyiv's suburb of Bucha, the Lithuanian government decided in April to downgrade the diplomatic representation between Lithuania and Russia and ordered Russian Ambassador Alexey Isakov to leave the country. Also, the decision was made to close Russia's consulate in Klaipeda.

In October, Lithuania expelled Sergey Ryabokon, Russia's chargé d'affaires ad interim, for actions and statements incompatible with his status as a diplomat.

Deputy Foreign Minister Mantas Adomenas told reporters at the time the decision was made in response to the diplomat's statements diminishing the January 13t, 1991 events.

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Lithuanian president signs 2023 budget package into law

VILNIUS, Dec 01, BNS – Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda on Thursday signed into law next year's government budget and accompanying laws, as well as the 2023 budgets of the State Social Insurance Fund (Sodra) and the Compulsory Health Insurance Fund.

According to Nauseda, next year's budget is balanced in terms of raising people's incomes, support for businesses, and fiscal sustainability.

"The state will provide greater financial stability to society next year," he said in a press release. 

Nauseda noted that the 2023 budget package provides for increasing the salaries of teachers, lecturers, scientists, cultural and artistic workers, social workers, civil servants, internal service officers, doctors and residents, and others.

Other measures include the indexing of pensions for the fourth year in a row, and subsidizing part of gas and electricity bills for households and businesses.

The president noted that the Defense Ministry has major work ahead of it as it implements infrastructure projects for the country to be able to host the German brigade, 

"In the current geopolitical environment and in order to have a combat brigade of NATO allied forces in the country on a regular basis as soon as possible, it was crucial to foresee the possibility of borrowing on behalf of the state for military infrastructure projects so as to reach the 3 percent of GDP level in total defense funding," Nauseda said.   

"This is what the budget foresees, provided that the deficit targets are met," he added.  

The 2023 budget allows raising defense spending up to 3 percent of GDP through borrowed funds, provided that the overall general government deficit for the year does not exceed 4.9 percent of GDP.

Lithuania's general government debt is expected to decrease to 43 percent of GDP as of late 2023, almost two percentage points lower than this year's estimate of 44.8 percent.

Next year's central government budget revenue is projected at 15.544 billion euros, with expenditure planned at 18.629 billion euros.

Next year, the non-taxable income threshold will rise by almost 16 percent, from 540 euros to 625 euros, and pensions will increase to 542-575 euros depending on the length of service. 

The budget provides a total of 1.848 billion euros for subsiding electricity and gas prices for households and businesses, and for investments in renewable energy, with another 1.58 billion euros earmarked for increasing people's incomes and almost 305 million euros for national security. 

 

 

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