Tag Archives: Lithuania

A decision on a permanent deployment of a German brigade to Lithuania will be “up to NATO,” German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said Tuesday in response to calls by Vilnius for a larger NATO presence in the country. “This not down to who wants what – or who wants to …

Iraq has repatriated almost 4,000 of its citizens stuck on the Belarus borders with European Union members Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia in recent weeks, Iraq’s foreign minister said Sunday. Since November 18, the Iraqi government has organized “10 flights from Baghdad to Belarus” to repatriate its citizens, Fuad Hussein told …

Migrants who cross into Lithuania from Belarus can be detained for up to a year, the Lithuanian parliament decided on Thursday, increasing an initial six-month detention limit. Eighty-one lawmakers backed the lengthening of the six-month detention period, which was introduced in July as part of plans to hold large numbers …

NATO should engage in dialogue with Russia but the US-led military bloc ought not to stand for Moscow telling its members what to do, Germany’s new defense minister declared on Sunday, during a visit to Lithuania. Christine Lambrecht made the statement during a press conference with her Lithuanian counterpart, Arvydas …

Lithuania’s diplomatic delegation to China left the country on Wednesday in a hastily arranged exit, diplomatic sources said, as relations soured further over Taiwan, which opened a de facto embassy in Vilnius last month. Beijing, which has stepped up pressure on countries to sever relations with the island, downgraded diplomatic …

Syarhei Tsikhanouski, the husband of Belarus’s opposition leader, was sentenced to 18 years in jail on Tuesday for organising mass unrest and inciting social hatred, according to the official Belta news agency. Alongside him, five supporters were tried and sentenced to prison terms ranging from 14 to 16 years. Tsikhanouski, …

Lithuania said Thursday it would offer migrants a greater cash incentive to return home, as the Baltic state struggles to repatriate thousands who crossed into the EU member from Belarus. Each migrant who voluntarily opts to go back to their country of origin will now receive 1,000 euros ($1,130) instead …

Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said on Sunday that the NATO military alliance needed to adjust its stance towards Belarus, whose military, he said, was becoming more integrated with Russian armed forces. Nauseda told a news conference with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in …

China downgraded its diplomatic ties with Lithuania on Sunday, expressing strong dissatisfaction with the Baltic State after Taiwan opened a de facto embassy there, escalating a row that has sucked in Washington. China views self-ruled and democratically governed Taiwan as its territory with no right to the trappings of a …

Polish security forces turned water cannon on migrants across the Belarusian border, where thousands have gathered in a chaotic attempt to reach the European Union, video footage shared by authorities showed on Tuesday. The crisis has led the EU to prepare further sanctions against Belarus, which it accuses of attempting …

The European Union agreed on Monday to step up sanctions against Belarus, which denounced as “absurd” Western accusations that it was driving a migrant crisis that has left thousands of people stranded in freezing forests on its borders with the EU. The Western bloc is seeking to stop what it …

Countries bordering Belarus on Thursday warned the migrant crisis on the European Union’s eastern borders could escalate into a military confrontation while Ukraine said it would deploy thousands more troops to reinforce its frontier. Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia said Belarus posed serious threats to European security by deliberately escalating its …

The European Union must stand with Lithuania against Chinese pressure and not give in to trade threats, Slovenia’s prime minister said in a letter to fellow EU leaders, according to a copy seen by Reuters. China’s decision to withdraw its ambassador to Lithuania over a dispute about Taiwan was “reprehensible” …

The European Court of Human Rights asked the Polish and Latvian governments on Wednesday to intervene to help migrants camped on the Belarus border. The fate of the migrants has become part of a broader dispute between the European Union and Belarus and groups such as Polish refugee charity Ocalenie …

Poland will build a fence along its border with Belarus and double the number of troops there, the defense minister said on Monday, to halt a flow of migrants the European Union says is being driven by Minsk in retaliation for EU sanctions. Poland and fellow EU states Lithuania and …

The General Company for Iraqi Airways announced the arrival of its exceptional flight to Baghdad International Airport, which was designated to evacuate Iraqi citizens stranded in Belarus and its borders with Lithuania. The company’s administration indicated in a statement that about 240 Iraqi citizens were evacuated, and the body of …

President Lukashenko says the migrants Lithuania turns away will not be allowed back into Belarus. The president of Belarus has ordered the country’s security forces to tighten control over the border with Lithuania, which had begun turning away migrants attempting to cross from Belarus earlier this week. Lithuania, an EU …

Lithuania’s border guard service said it detained 171 people caught illegally crossing from Belarus into Lithuania on Tuesday night, the largest number in a single day in 2021 and bringing the total number of migrants detained so far this year to 3,027. The border service said the group of migrants, …

Helicopters provided air support, armoured personnel carriers rolled through fields, and soldiers fired at enemy targets on Tuesday as part of a large military exercise hosted by Ukraine and also involving the United States, Poland, and Lithuania. The drills, called Three Swords-2021, will involve more than 1,200 servicemen and more …

Belarus’ president Alexander Lukashenko is using migration to put political pressure on the European Union, it’s been claimed. It comes after Euronews reported migrant crossings on the Lithuania-Belarus border have soared this year. More than 1,500 illegal crossings have been registered in 2021, compared with just 81 for the whole …