LITHUANIA DAILY NEWS BULLETIN

IN THIS ISSUE:

1. Upcoming events in Lithuania for Tuesday, August 21, 2023
2. Nine irregular migrants turned away on Lithuania's border with Belarus
3. Lithuanian formin on national security issues: 'If you can say less, then say less'
4. Lithuania reports 31 new COVID-19 cases, no deaths
5. Banks in Lithuania to step up cyber security cooperation, information exchange
6. Lifosa should continue operating but sanctions shouldn’t be eased – presidential office
7. Banks in Lithuania to step up cyber security cooperation, information exchange (expands)
8. Banks in Lithuania to step up cyber security cooperation, information exchange (further expands)
9. Lithuania's LFGU will nominate Veryga for president
10. Lithuanian president calls for stepped up prosecution after meting with new SIS chief
11. Icelandic diplomat to work at Lithuanian Embassy in Kyiv
12. Lithuania's anti-corruption body seeks EUR 746,000 in extra funding – chief
13. Lithuanian, Dutch forces land aircraft in atypical locations during exercises
14. Published info on tank acquisition was of 'restricted use' – Lithuanian president
15. Published info on tank acquisition was of 'restricted use' – Lithuanian president (expands)
16. Poland's Wagner assessment may be election-impacted, no threat denial – Nauseda
17. US, EU policy towards China undergoing transformation – Lithuanian president

Upcoming events in Lithuania for Tuesday, August 21, 2023

VILNIUS, Aug 01, BNS – The following events are scheduled in Lithuania for Tuesday, August 1, 2023:

PRESIDENT Gitanas Nauseda to meet with Linas Pernavas, head of the Special Investigation Service at 11 a.m.

SPEAKER OF THE SEIMAS Viktorija Cmilyte-Nielsen to meet with US Ambassador to Lithuania Robert S. Gilchrist at 10a.m.; an interview with Poland's English-language channel TVP World at 11.20 a.m.

DEFENSE MINISTER Arvydas Anusauskas to meet with US Ambassador to Lithuania Robert S. Gilchrist at 10.45 a.m.

FOREIGN MINISTER Gabrielius Landsbergis to meet with US Ambassador to Lithuania Robert S. Gilchrist at 1 p.m.

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Nine irregular migrants turned away on Lithuania's border with Belarus

VILNIUS, Aug 01, BNS – Lithuanian border guards have in the past 24 hours turned away nine migrants attempting to cross into the country from Belarus illegally, the State Border Guard Service (SBGS) said on Tuesday morning.

Latvia reported 43 attempts at illegal border crossings on Monday, and 228 irregular migrants were not allowed into Poland on Sunday, according to the latest available information.

A total of 1,476 irregular migrants have been barred from entering Lithuania from Belarus at non-designated places so far this year. Over 11,200 irregular migrants were turned away in 2022.  

Lithuanian border guards have prevented almost 20,700 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 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 in 2021. However, the vast majority of them fled Lithuania once they were allowed to move freely.

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Lithuanian formin on national security issues: 'If you can say less, then say less'

VILNIUS, Aug 01, BNS – Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis believes that it is better to say less when it comes to national security issues. 

His comment came on Monday, a week after Defense Minister Arvydas Anusauskas made public information on Lithuania's plans to purchase tanks for its armed forces.

"The minister may draw certain conclusions, apparently by analyzing the information that has been presented, perhaps by segmenting it, that he feels that he has the right to make some of it public, but nevertheless, when it comes to extremely sensitive issues of national security, I would say that there is one rule: if you can say less, then say less," Landsbergis told LRT TV. 

Following last week's meeting of the State Defense Council, Anusauskas unveiled plans to send Germany a letter of intent to purchase Leopard tanks. He detailed the circumstances surrounding the choice of tanks in a Facebook post the next day.

Anusauskas and defense officials say that this does not mean that Lithuania has already decided to buy Leopard tanks out of the three options considered, but some politicians maintain that the minister has undermined Lithuania's negotiating position with German manufacturers by revealing the country's inclination. 

Anusauskas and the Defense Ministry insisted that no classified information had been made public. However, MP Agne Sirinskiene asked the Prosecutor General's Office to look at whether the defense minister had disclosed a state secret.

President Gitanas Nauseda said on Monday that he could continue working with Anusauskas, but was waiting for the prosecutors' assessment of his behavior.

Lithuania is looking to buy tanks as part of its plans to create an army division. Officials say this could cost the country around 2 billion euros.

By Greta Zulonaitė

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Lithuania reports 31 new COVID-19 cases, no deaths

VILNIUS, Aug 01, BNS – Lithuania has recorded 31 new coronavirus infections and no deaths from COVID-19 over the past 24 hours, official statistics showed on Tuesday morning.

The 14-day primary infection rate has edged up to 8.4 cases per 100,000 people, with the seven-day percentage of positive tests at 7.5 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.

Some 68.5 percent of people in the country have received at least one coronavirus vaccine jab so far, according to the statistics.

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Banks in Lithuania to step up cyber security cooperation, information exchange

VILNIUS, Aug 01, BNS – The central Bank of Lithuania, commercial banks operating in Lithuania and the country's National Cyber Security Center said on Tuesday they had agreed to step up their cooperation in the field of cyber security.

The agreement provides for "faster and better cooperation in the field of cyber incidents", Simonas Krepsta, a board member at the Bank of Lithuania, told reporters, adding that banks will also exchange information on cyber security.

By Augustas Stankevičius

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Lifosa should continue operating but sanctions shouldn’t be eased – presidential office

VILNIUS, Aug 01, BNS - The state should be interested in keeping Lifosa, the sanctioned Kedainiai-based phosphate fertilizer plant, open, but the existing sanctions should not be eased, presidential advisor Vaidas Augustinavicius says.

"Lithuania certainly takes a principled approach to the implementation of the sanctions, which is why we shouldn’t be talking about easing or changing sanctions for aggressors," he told the Ziniu Radijas news radio on Tuesday.

On July 3, EuroChem, Lifosa's Russian owner, said Lifosa may be temporarily mothballed, adding that if the Lithuanian authorities fail to agree on normalizing Lifosa's operations, consultations will be held on the plant's fate in general.

Augustinavicius says the state should be interested in the company's continued operations. 

"Lifosa employs around 900 people and is an important part of the ecosystem in the Kedainiai region, agriculture and the food sector. Well, the government's actions should probably be in line with this interest, and exchanging letters is not the way to achieve a certain result," the presidential advisor said.

He believes there are many possible solutions that could be considered by a special government working group.

Last week, around 300 protesters, including Lifosa employees, held a rally outside the government office in central Vilnius to demand that the company be protected from planned closure.

By Valdas Pryšmantas

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Banks in Lithuania to step up cyber security cooperation, information exchange (expands)

VILNIUS, Aug 01, BNS – The central Bank of Lithuania, commercial banks operating in Lithuania and the country's National Cyber Security Center said on Tuesday they had agreed to step up their cooperation in the field of cyber security.

The agreement provides for "faster and better cooperation in the field of cyber incidents", Simonas Krepsta, a board member at the Bank of Lithuania, told reporters, adding that banks will also exchange information on cyber security.

"It can be said that cyber resilience in Lithuania's financial sector, in the banking sector, is today moving to a new qualitative level," he added.

The agreement was signed by the major commercial banks operating in the country, including GF Bank, Jungtine Centrine Kredito Unija, Luminor, Revolut, SEB, SME Bank, Swedbank and Siauliu Bankas.

"We have decided to start with the segment of commercial banks segment, which are, of course, the largest financial institutions where our population has the largest number of accounts and funds," Krepsta said. "In the future, if this project proves successful, we plan to expand to other sectors, the payments sector and the insurance sector."

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Banks in Lithuania to step up cyber security cooperation, information exchange (further expands)

VILNIUS, Aug 01, BNS – The central Bank of Lithuania, commercial banks operating in Lithuania and the country's National Cyber Security Center said on Tuesday they had agreed to step up their cooperation in the field of cyber security.

The agreement provides for "faster and better cooperation in the field of cyber incidents", Simonas Krepsta, a board member at the Bank of Lithuania, told reporters, adding that banks will also exchange information on cyber security.

"It can be said that cyber resilience in Lithuania's financial sector, in the banking sector, is today moving to a new qualitative level," he added.

The agreement was signed by the major commercial banks operating in the country, including GF Bank, Jungtine Centrine Kredito Unija, Luminor, Revolut, SEB, SME Bank, Swedbank and Siauliu Bankas.

"We have decided to start with the segment of commercial banks segment, which are, of course, the largest financial institutions where our population has the largest number of accounts and funds," Krepsta said. "In the future, if this project proves successful, we plan to expand to other sectors, the payments sector and the insurance sector."

In his words, an assessment will be carried out every six months to look into how well banks are exchanging information.

For his part, Liudas Alisauskas, who leads the NCSC, says the information exchange platform was not "developed from scratch" as the well-known MISP platform was used.

"The product itself has been a great success and has gone like a tsunami around the world. It's a very good product that meets the security community's expectations. This platform is used by a very large number of countries," he said. "We did not create it, we just made use of it and made it available to the country's authorities."

Eivile Cipkute, president of the Association of Lithuanian Banks, says the exchange of information will be mainly about the nature of the attack and the threats it poses, rather than the measures taken to protect against them.

The Bank of Lithuania also points out that the European Central Bank plans a joint cyber security test next year to assess how prepared banks are to withstand large-scale cyber incidents.

A year later, periodic "penetration tests" should be carried out.

According to the Bank of Lithuania, 23 cyber incidents were reported by financial market participants last year and some of them linked to pro-Russian groups.

By Augustas Stankevičius

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Lithuania's LFGU will nominate Veryga for president

VILNIUS, Aug 01, BNS - The Council of the opposition Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union on Tuesday decided to nominate MP and former Health Minister Aurelijus Veryga for president.

Lithuania will elect a new president in May.

Veryga served as an adviser to then Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius on the prevention of drug, alcohol and tobacco use from 2009-2012. And he was the country's health minister from 2016 to 2020.

Veryga joint the party in 2018.

He's now a vice chair of the parliamentary Committee on European Affairs and is also a member of the Health Committee.

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Lithuanian president calls for stepped up prosecution after meting with new SIS chief

VILNIUS, Aug 01, BNS – Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda with Linas Pernavas, the new head of the country's Special Investigation Service, on Tuesday and calls for measures to step up criminal prosecution, presidential advisor Darius Urbonas said after the meeting.

"The first thing that was pointed out was the need to strengthen the area of criminal prosecution. This was repeatedly mentioned by the president during the new director's appointment process. Recently, the SIS has been more focused on the prevention of corruption and international cooperation, and this is very good, but the service shares responsibility with all other institutions and their leaders in this area," Urbonas told the press conference.

Meanwhile, criminal prosecution and criminal intelligence are the exclusive competence of the law enforcement authorities, he underlined.

"What we see today is the need to strengthen the criminal prosecution capacity, to pay more attention to this area, so that the SIS is really able to investigate and detect criminal corruption-related activity," the presidential advisor said.

Nominated by the president, Pernavas assumed his new position in mid-June.

Before that, he served as Lithuania's police attaché in the United Kingdom and previously was Lithuania's police commissioner general.

Pernavas replaced Zydrunas Bartkus who left the SIS in March.

The SIS investigates corruption crimes, prevents corruption and provides analytical anti-corruption intelligence.

By Milena Andrukaitytė

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Icelandic diplomat to work at Lithuanian Embassy in Kyiv

VILNIUS, Aug 01, BNS – As Iceland decides to send a representative to Kyiv, Lithuania will provide them with a workplace and all the necessary facilities at its embassy, the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday.

The move comes in support of Iceland‘s ambition to increase its presence in Kyiv, the ministry pointed out.

"We are honored to have been offered this co-operation with our very close friends, Lithuania who have a strong and established presence in Kyiv. We expect that our relations with Ukraine will continue to strengthen in the foreseeable future," Icelandic Foreign Minister Thordis Kolbrún Reykfjörð Gylfadóttir, adding that Iceland want to increase its support to Ukraine.

For his part, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis says Lithuania's assistance to Iceland is a proof of closer Nordic-Baltic cooperation.

"Together with Iceland’s Minister for Foreign Affairs and other Nordic colleagues we were in Kyiv, together we call for maximized transatlantic efforts to accelerate Ukraine's victory. As of now, 'shoulder to shoulder' is not only a metaphor but yet another proof of cooperation between Iceland and Lithuania," Lithuania's top diplomat said.

Iceland's Embassy to Ukraine is now based in Warsaw.

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Lithuania's anti-corruption body seeks EUR 746,000 in extra funding – chief

VILNIUS, Aug 01, BNS – Lithuania's Special Investigation Service (SIS) wants to recruit more staff to beef up its criminal prosecution function, but this requires an additional 746,000 euros, Linas Pernavas, the anti-corruption agency's new director, said on Tuesday. 

Pernavas told reporters after meeting with President Gitanas Nauseda  that the amount would finance 22 posts, adding that the SIS has disucssed the issue of increased funding with the Finance Ministry.

"We have estimated the amount to be 746,000 euros," he said. "Talks have just started and I do hope that our request will be heard."  

The SIS currently has a total of 320 posts, of which 45 are vacant and 22 "are not funded at all", according to the official. 

"Over the last few years, the service has paid a lot of attention, which is really good, to prevention, education and international activities – we are the leaders in our region," said Pernavas. 

"However, I think that criminal prosecution has been given far too little attention for objective reasons, that is, insufficient funding," the agency's new director said.

"Over time, the service's capacity for the prosecution function has, in my opinion, become disproportionate and this poses certain risks to the service's performance in detecting and investigating corruption-related criminal offences," he added.

The remaining 23 unfilled posts are vacant because the funds available for them are used to pay the agency's existing staff for overtime and for other needs, according to Pernavas. 

The director said that 19 CIS officers are currently involved in investigating criminal cases, a number that is "far too low".

"This is where we will be focusing our attention in the near future," he said.

Pernavas in June replaced Zydrunas Bartkus, whose term of office as SIS director ended in March.

The SIS investigates corruption crimes, prevents corruption and provides analytical anti-corruption intelligence.

By Augustas Stankevičius

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Lithuanian, Dutch forces land aircraft in atypical locations during exercises

VILNIUS, Aug 01, BNS - Lithuanian and Dutch special operations forces are carrying out tactical landing of aircraft at non-standard airfields and airborne landing control during an exercise, the Lithuanian army said on Tuesday, adding that the purpose of the exercise is to train specialists in battle management.

Such specialists often operate in enemy territory to deliver artillery or other weapon systems, military personnel, logistical supplies to hard-to-reach or locations distant from friendly forces, and also perform extraction of their own personnel.

This type of exercise enhances interoperability between NATO allies, with particular emphasis on the exchange of information between Special Operations Forces' joint fire support control specialists and aircraft pilots, the ability to conduct tactical landings at non-standard airfields and airborne landing control to deliver precise, unexpected strikes to the enemy to cause the greatest possible damage in the shortest time possible.

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Published info on tank acquisition was of 'restricted use' – Lithuanian president

VILNIUS, Aug 01, BNS – The information disclosed by Lithuanian Defense Minister Arvydas Anusauskas about plans to buy German Leopard tanks was of restricted use, President Gitanas Nauseda says.

"The published information was tagged as 'restricted use'," the president said in an interview with the delfi.lt news website on Tuesday, adding that there's a "very clear procedure" for such tagging.

"Its 'de-tagging' or, in other words, the publication of confidential information, also has the same publication procedure. And this has not been done", Nauseda said.

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Published info on tank acquisition was of 'restricted use' – Lithuanian president (expands)

VILNIUS, Aug 01, BNS – The information disclosed by Lithuanian Defense Minister Arvydas Anusauskas about plans to buy German Leopard tanks was of 'restricted use', President Gitanas Nauseda says.

"The published information was tagged as 'restricted use'," the president said in an interview with the delfi.lt news website on Tuesday, adding that there's a "very clear procedure" for such tagging.

Last week, after Anusauskas announced Lithuania's plans to buy German tanks and the reasons for his decision, Nauseda said the minister should not have made this information public.

The president said at the time the minister had disclosed restricted-use information, but the presidential office later added it was a political assessment, adding that the legal conclusion was to be made by the Prosecutor' General's Office.

MP Agne Sirinskiene later turned to prosecutors over possible disclosure of a state secret.

For his part, Anusauskas says he did not disclose any classified information, and his ministry stated that the minister's published information had no characteristics of classified information.

According to Nauseda, if the disclosure of such information had no consequences for future agreements, it would not be "the biggest problem in the world".

"But it may have (an impact - BNS) as it reveals our certain plans, even if they are not final," the president said. "It seems sometimes that people don't realize that sometimes such information has to do with very substantial money or investments made by other countries to gather such information, and we come in and put it on a plate."

The defense minister is generally disclosing too much information, Nauseda also added.

Nevertheless, speaking earlier this week, Nauseda said he could continue working with Anusauskas.

"We met with him on the occasion of the Medininkai anniversary, and everything is fine, we continue to communicate as we have been so far, surely, believe me, there are no sparks between us here," the president said in the interview.

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Poland's Wagner assessment may be election-impacted, no threat denial – Nauseda

VILNIUS, Aug 01, BNS – The upcoming election in Poland later this year may have influence on the country's assessment of the threat posed by Wagner mercenaries in Belarus, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda says, adding, however, that it does not deny the threat itself.

"The Polish side is paying really a lot of attention to this. I will not go into the extent to which this is a consequence of the forthcoming election in Poland. Yes, we cannot rule it out", Nauseda said in an interview with the delfi.lt news website on Tuesday. "Sometimes things get deliberately exaggerated, but that does not deny the threat itself."

The Lithuanian president's comment followed Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki's statement at the weekend that more than 100 mercenaries approached the Suwalki corridor. Mateusz Morawiecki also said the situation was becoming even more dangerous and that this was a step towards a further hybrid attack on Polish territory.

Lithuanian and Polish officials have said that their countries would be ready to close the border with Belarus in case of serious border incidents.

Speaking earlier this week, Nauseda said Wagner's presence in Belarus, close to the Lithuanian border, poses a serious threat, adding, however, there are currently no signs or signals that provocations are planned in the near future.

Wagner mercenaries started moving to Belarus after their failed mutiny in Russia in June after authoritarian Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko allegedly helped to end this and allowdd mercenaries to come to Belarus.

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US, EU policy towards China undergoing transformation – Lithuanian president

VILNIUS, Aug 01, BNS – The United States and the European Union's policy towards China is undergoing a transformation and this country can no longer be viewed as a business partner only, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda says.

"The US and EU policy towards China is going through a certain transformation, and we no longer can says that what we were saying two or three years ago is identical to what we are saying today," he said in an interview with the delfi.lt news website on Tuesday, adding that a process of re-evaluation of values is underway.

"Counterparts who used to emphasize the so-called model of partnership or cooperation with China have bow realized that not everything depends on our good intentions as China has its own interests, and those interests are very expansionist and very ambitious," Nauseda said.

"And that's why we need to be much more reserved as we no longer can cooperate with China and only develop business with China, as we used to. Today, we understand, and especially after the pandemic, that China can also be a source of risk, especially when it comes to supply chains, production chains, that it can weaken us considerably, if we do not protects these chains ourselves," the president said.

In his words, Europe is now much more aware of how to boost its resilience to such vulnerabilities.

"Whether we want it or not, we cannot escape the fact that China is a strategic rival. Not just an economic rival, but a rival that wants to impose its own rules on the world. And those rules are somewhat different from the rule of law and the democratic principles we are used to living by", Nauseda said.

At the NATO summit in Vilnius in July, leaders said that China's declared ambitions and coercive policies threaten the Alliance's interests, security and values.

The summit declaration also stated that China is using "a broad range of political, economic, and military tools to increase its global footprint and project power, while remaining opaque about its strategy, intentions and military build-up".

The document states that China also "seeks to control key technological and industrial sectors, critical infrastructure, and strategic materials and supply chains.  It uses its economic leverage to create strategic dependencies and enhance its influence.  It strives to subvert the rules-based international order, including in the space, cyber and maritime domains.

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