Contents tagged with Lithuania
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US deploys Patriot missile system in Lithuania for military drills
A Patriot surface-to-air missile system has been deployed in Lithuania in order to participate in NATO’s anti-air defense divisions’ Tobruq Legacy 2017 international exercises, Lithuania’s Ministry of Defense reported.
“The deployment of a Patriot demonstrates the firmness of the United States’ commitment to ensuring Lithuania’s security, and the high level of readiness to promptly relocate strategic forces to the region,” the department observed.
During the Tobruq Legacy exercises which will …
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Russian citizen in Lithuania sentenced to 10 years in prison for espionage
Russian citizen Nikolai Filipchenko has been sentenced by the district court of Vilnius (Lithuania) to 10 years in prison on charges of espionage, Delfi news agency reports.
According to investigators, Filipchenko, who was detained in Lithuania in 2015, is an employee of the Russian FSB.
The Lithuanian Prosecutor General's Office detained him on a transit train during a trip through Lithuania from the Kaliningrad region to Belarus. The Russian citizen, according to the Prosecutor's Office, …
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Lithuanian Parliament votes to send more military instructors to Ukraine
The Lithuanian Seimas passed a law that provides for sending twice as many military instructors to Ukraine for training purposes, according to baltnews.lt.
The vote took place on Tuesday. Of 114 Lithuanian parliamentarians, 103 voted for the bill. There were none who voted against it or abstained from voting.
Up to 30 instructors from the Lithuanian army could be sent before this law was passed. But now up to 60 servicemen or civil servants of the Ministry of Defense of Lithuania can be …
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President of Lithuania: Sanctions against Russia should be strengthened and expanded
The West should expand sanctions against Russia, as the situation in eastern Ukraine does not improve, as stated by Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite before the EU summit in Brussels, Delfi reports.
"The situation in Ukraine thus far only continues to deteriorate… In eastern Ukraine, a direct, real, de-facto inclusion of that part of the country into the territory of Russia has begun," said Lithuanian President Grybauskaite.
She also pointed out to the fact that Moscow, with separatist …
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Large scale NATO exercises begin in Lithuania
On June 12, the largest multinational military exercises this year, Iron Wolf 2017 will begin in Lithuania.
According to the Lithuanian Defense Ministry, the maneuvers will involve roughly 5,300 military personnel from Lithuania and nine NATO states: Belgium, Great Britain, the US, Poland, Luxembourg, Germany, Norway, the Netherlands and Portugal.
The Iron Wolf 2017 exercises will take place in southern, central and eastern parts of Lithuania between the 12th and the 24th of June. In the …
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Lithuanian president promises to help Ukraine block the NordStream-2 pipeline
Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite, in the light of Brussels' preparations for negotiations with Moscow, has promised to help Ukraine block the initiatives to expand the NordStream gas pipeline, reports BNS.
Ukraine, Poland and the Baltic states have declared that the NordStream 2 project will strengthen the EU's dependence on Gazprom gas. The pipeline will also reduce the importance of Ukraine as a transit country, which would strike a blow to the Ukrainian economy.
Grybauskaite …
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President of Lithuania calls Belarusian nuclear power plant in Astravyets 'a geopolitical weapon'
The world clearly understands that the main threats to transatlantic security in the region are the militarization of the Kaliningrad region of the Russian Federation, the large-scale exercises "Zapad-2017" planned for autumn, and the Belarusian nuclear power plant in Astravyets that has turned into a geopolitical weapon, as stated by the President of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaite during her annual report to the Seimas, Delfi news agency reports.
"The world that defends democracy today fully …
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Lithuania declares nuclear power plant in Belarus a threat to national security
The Cabinet of Ministers of Lithuania has declared that the Belarusian Nuclear Power Plant (BelAES), which is being built about 50 kilometers from Vilnius (on Belarus Island), poses a threat to national security. The portal Delfi reported this.
The government proposes that the Seimas recognize BelAES as unsafe, representing, by virtue of its geographical position, a threat to the national security of Lithuania, the environment and human health.
"The interests of national security and the …
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Defense of the Suwalki Gap will be practiced during NATO’s Iron Wolf 2017 military exercise in Lithuania
The NATO troops deployed in Lithuania and Poland next week will conduct training on the defense of the so-called Suwalki Gap, through which allied forces might arrive in the event of a military crisis in the Baltic countries, Interfax-Ukraine reports.
About 1,500 Lithuanian, Polish, British and American servicemen will take part in the maneuvers that will be held on June 17 to 19 and will involve heavy military equipment and helicopters. This operation is part of the international exercise …
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President of Lithuania: The main threat to the Baltic countries is 'the existence of Russia and Belarus in the east'
Lithuania's President Dalia Grybauskaite called the existence of Russia and Belarus in the east a major threat to the Baltic States and Poland. She made this announcement to the local press on June 5 before setting off on a state visit to Estonia.
The head of the Lithuanian state reminded journalists that the Baltic countries and Poland are the "eastern border area of NATO" and that having Russia and Belarus in the same neighborhood is a threat. The militarization of Kaliningrad region plus …