It feels like the Lithuanian national stadium is one of just three never-ending construction projects in the world journalist and football enthusiast Martynas Starkus said half-jokingly comparing it to Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia and North Korea’s unfinished Ryugyong Hotel once a hopeful young player in the Žalgiris Olympic reserve team now says the drawn-out process has become tiresome the stadium project turned into a soap opera the Vilnius municipality expects a final ruling from the European Commission on whether the national stadium can get a government subsidy the project would move forward under developer Arvydas Avulis and real estate group Hanner Prime Minister Gintautas Paluckas is also awaiting the Commission’s decision Roughly 50 million euros in funding from the Ministry of Education Science and Sport is earmarked for the stadium portion of the complex Paluckas has so far backed the project but says he is considering proposals from the Nemunas Dawn party Members of the Vilnius City Council have also raised objections argued that the city should not owe any compensation to the developer The city and the procurement commission should have already acknowledged that,” he said Mayor Valdas Benkunskas defended the project noting that responsibilities are divided: “The government is covering the stadium costs via the Ministry of Education while the city funds the surrounding infrastructure – fields Parliament Speaker Saulius Skvernelis and the Lithuanian Football Federation (LFF) entered the debate last week but the strategic importance of the complex They raised the question: Should the government focus on a single stadium in Vilnius or invest in infrastructure across the country Kids are forced to play indoors in winter or on artificial turf We can’t compete like this,” Skvernelis said after meeting with LFF President Edgaras Stankevičius Stankevičius also criticised the use of the “national stadium” label for the planned 18,000-seat facility in the Šeškinė area of Vilnius saying it is too small to warrant that title He instead proposed a larger complex further from the city centre on a 17-hectare site that would include a 25,000–30,000-seat stadium and house the federation’s headquarters the mayor has cited concerns over transparency Stankevičius argued that football is the most popular youth sport in the country and that better infrastructure could improve public health “Our top priority is indoor facilities for winter Only then should we talk about a true national stadium,” he said As political leaders debate how best to use the funding Skvernelis voiced frustration over Kaunas’s Darius and Girėnas Stadium being used more for concerts than for football “Had I known it would prioritise concerts over football the government wouldn’t have given a single euro,” he said With Lithuania’s domestic football still developing even the Kaunas venue rarely sells out for league matches or national team games Four global stars are scheduled to perform there this summer and the Netherlands national football team will visit in September “I’m confident even 15,000 seats in Kaunas won’t be enough for those matches […] We should think bigger – 30,000 to 40,000,” Vedrickas said from sports officials to event organisers to politicians there’s consensus: Lithuania doesn’t need another Kaunas-level stadium Vilnius Žalgiris club director Vilma Venslovaitienė echoed that stance “An 18,000-seat stadium for 56 million euros – 3,000 per seat – is economically sound Darius and Girėnas cost 50 million euros for a renovation five years ago,” she said is all of the above – leaving the country with one key challenge: setting its priorities between Naujoji Vilnia and Aukštės Paneriai or even further High-quality integration of this line into Vilnius' public transport system would be incomparably cheaper than building new infrastructure and would help answer questions about future city and transport development only now you would have to change trains: for example from the train "Kena-Vilnius" to "Vilnius-Kaunas" Railway and transport enthusiasts may be amused by the fact that at one time the unofficial function of the city's metro was performed (and will probably soon be performed again) by the international trains "Vilnius-Daugavpils" Vilnius’ current infrastructure is not a pure metro (usually underground and quite dense) but rather an analogue of the S-Bahn networks found in German cities or the RER networks of the Paris region These are intensively running train lines connecting city centers with suburbs with distances of 1 km or more between stops they are often operated not by the respective municipalities but are fully integrated into the city’s ticketing and mobility systems the same ticket with identical pricing as in the city center is valid for such trains such a Vilnius S-Bahn route was not and is not fully integrated into the Vilnius JUDU ticket system: even if LTG recently started distributing combined tickets from a pricing point of view these are two separate tickets without any savings it is natural that direct passenger flows between Naujoji Vilnia and Paneriai are still symbolic - the majority of them travel to or from the central station both before 2019 and today Vilnius is connected to its suburban stations quite infrequently: with 11 and 24 departures per weekday and with clearly expressed morning and evening peaks all this is already an ideal starting point for further intensification It is also worth considering urbanizing the existing railway line even further towards Kena with stops at Sporto (on the other side of Vilnelė near the stadium) Many of the aforementioned stops already “cover” thousands of residents within a kilometer radius today or could cover as much if real estate development were to become more active in these territories such a line could serve 100 thousand potential residents of the southern part of Vilnius the suburban railway is inseparable from the infrastructure for bicycles at each stop thus further expanding its sphere of influence It is also positive that these ideas have already been heard by representatives of the city They all agree that the city railway would be an excellent addition to the backbone of Vilnius' public transport what is needed first and foremost is not money or knowledge but more frequent sitting at the common table The community of New Vilnius has also established contacts with the "Do Architects" studio which promises moral and practical support for the idea of ​​developing the city's railways It is understandable that even integrating the current railway infrastructure into the Vilnius public transport system would be a considerable challenge requiring serious inter-institutional cooperation even with the principled agreement of all stakeholders it is most realistic to start with the easiest to implement steps and the least investment-intensive it is naive to expect that new intermediate stops will soon appear on the entire section between Naujoji Vilnia and Paneriai and that special new urban trains will run it is likely that the consolidation and adaptation of existing intercity services to "internal" Vilnius routes and perhaps even additional separate Vilnius-Paneriai services are possible both with today's rolling stock and especially when the new trains ordered reach the Lithuanian Railways it would help test several things that are important for further development: full ticket integration (including concessions and other aspects) and various other inter-institutional issues it would become easier to make somewhat more complex decisions: infrastructure for bicycles It is understandable that today’s LTG trains are not adapted to suburban traffic: this would require special rolling stock with more doors and adaptation to more frequent braking and acceleration if the initial experiment with existing means worked such an acquisition would become much more worth considering If all this works, why not go even further in the future? For example, the most recent master plan has made the area a residential and priority area Wolffoot already has a mostly single-track and non-electrified urban railway network but perhaps investments in its and thus the entire "metro" development would still be rational Especially since the former industrial areas here have been gradually turning into offices sports or even art spaces for some time now as well as the "Concrete Factory" community where private events are sometimes visited by chartered train trips Such trains also occasionally arrive in the "Smoke Factory" spaces converted in New Vilnius a few years ago next to the historic scythe factory which manages the former Vilniaus Baldai territory has leased the premises in Vilkpėdė to a volleyball and basketball complex that already generates significant visitor flows as well as to the largest go-karting club in the Baltic States and other businesses and in the future plans to convert these spaces into residential The company claims to support any further transport development: starting with the most realistic plans with existing rails and ending with their expansion If the New Vilnius-Paneriai railway axis were to become strategic and a priority future Vilnius planning documents could concentrate the city's development along it we can look even wider: today we already have tracks to Kena through the actual Vilnius suburb Lentvaris towards Kaunas the huge Aukštės Paneriai-Kirtimai-Vokė business zone or Gariūnai - all of this is also feasible These may not be the most densely populated areas of Vilnius today but high-speed city trains could turn them into such cycling) is practical and completely rational All these are reasons for all interested parties to continue to sit down at the common table The community of Naujoji Vilnia publicly commits not only to supporting such initiatives but also to practically contributing to them with ideas In addition to everyday practical considerations the strengthening of the railway line would be important for the residents of Naujoji Vilnia as a potential stimulus for a full-fledged transformation of the district activating valuable industrial heritage and creating a full-fledged and vibrant center of Naujoji Vilnia Chairman of the Council of the association "New Vilnius City Community" reproduction and distribution are permitted only with the written consent of UAB "Naujosios medijos grupė" The new routes will connect the city centre to neighbourhoods including Saulėtekis Buses on the routes will operate every 30 minutes two nights a week: between Friday and Saturday “Public transportation must operate smoothly not only during the day but also when the city is alive with cultural events or people returning from work,” said Vilnius Mayor Valdas Benkunskas “Night routes are another step toward building a city that is liveable for everyone a night transfer hub will be established at the intersection of Pamėnkalnio all nine routes will be synchronised at this location to allow passengers to transfer between lines with a maximum wait time of nine minutes three existing bus stop names will be updated and one new stop will be added All renamed stops will adopt new titles referencing nearby Islandijos Street to simplify navigation: Judu said the renaming and restructuring of stops will provide clearer orientation for passengers with at least seven minutes allocated for switching between routes An additional transfer point will also be available in the Pašilaičiai district at Deivių stop to allow passengers to travel between neighbourhoods without passing through the city centre New stops are also being added along the night routes One service change will affect the 88N route between Europos Square and Vilnius Airport: it will be suspended on Friday and Saturday nights when it will be temporarily replaced by the N8 route Two current night routes – 101N and 103N – will be discontinued Friday as they are being replaced by the new network Judu CEO Loreta Levulytė-Staškevičienė said the changes aim to provide safer and more affordable transport options for residents returning from late-night events ride-hailing services are simply too expensive at night,” she said “This solution improves access to public transit and also promotes more sustainable and budget-friendly travel habits.” Lithuania (AP) — Flowers were laid on rusty railway tracks Monday as Lithuania marked the start of a mass deportation 80 years ago by the Soviet Union that was occupying the Baltic nation People who were considered opposed to Moscow or deemed counter-revolutionary elements were sent to Siberia from Lithuania and few returned Others who owned land or houses were evicted and sent there too Some 280,000 people were eventually deported to the Siberian gulags a year after Soviet troops had occupied Lithuania Many of those sent away never returned from the long journey in the cattle wagons “Two evil forces — Nazi Germany and the Soviet Communist regime — had entered a secret agreement to divide Europe,” President Gitanas Nauseda said during a solemn ceremony in Vilnius on a day considered one of the darkest pages in the Baltic nation’s recent history These “regimes caused unspeakable pain and suffering.” One of those attending the ceremony Monday was deported and spent almost 11 years in Siberia Aurelija Staponkute and her family were deported only because they had a small farm that was seized “We do not know what the future might bring we fought for it so hard,” the 83-year-old said Only one-third of those deported ever returned and the mass deportation affected all walks of life in the Baltic nation where it's considered a genocide by an occupying power The Soviet occupation of Lithuania lasted for five decades Lithuania joined the European Union and NATO in 2004 rewritten or redistributed without permission LithuaniaA foraged bounty from nearby forests and rivers provides rich pickings for adventurous travellers to the Lithuanian capital This article was produced by National Geographic Traveller (UK).1. AmandusFine dining favouriteIn the east of Vilnius’s beautiful an iron bridge over the Vilnia river marks the border with Užipis This once down-at-heel district turned artist enclave declared itself an independent ‘republic’ in 1997 Gentrification in the years since has smoothed its counter-cultural edges unconventional thinking still has its place warm-lit glow that reveals the entrance to Amandus the fine-dining restaurant of chef-patron Deivydas Praspaliauskas I watch a team of chefs busying themselves ahead of service in the open kitchen there’s a palpable sense of anticipation ahead of a 10-course journey led by a chef who has done much to drive the city’s food culture It’s been a rapid ascent for Praspaliauskas rose from the bottom rung of the restaurant ladder to heights that included a brief stint at Noma he was encouraged to return home and enter a competition to find Lithuania’s best chef giving him the impetus to open his own restaurant in 2011 pizza and a couple of hotel restaurants,” he says of the city’s limited dining scene following the Soviet occupation ‘We give this guy three months because of those tiny portions and €9 lunches.’ Three months on and the reviewer wrote and you need to book a table for that lunch.’ That was a sign something was happening.” Today four city restaurants gained Michelin stars A succession of dishes soon emerge from the kitchen accompanied by flourishes with pipettes or liquid nitrogen caramelised root vegetables offset smoked catfish; cognac-accented chicken liver tops dark rye; and a Praspaliauskas calling card While he’s no slave to traditional Lithuanian dishes or domestic produce Praspaliauskas’s cooking celebrates his heritage through star ingredients including foraged mushrooms and berries from the forest and techniques such as smoking and pickling “People often ask about Lithuanian food and the one thing that would see our culture collapse is if you took away soup from creamy potato foam concealing pickled cauliflower to a chicken broth thickened with barley and adorned with plump Praspaliauskas’s skill lies in his ability to draw out the essence of everyday ingredients I hope you find distinct flavours that are as pure as possible,” he says of a style that’s drawn comparisons with New Nordic cuisine “It took me a while to understand whether what I do is Scandinavian or Baltic Delis & DJsThe grand old clock above the entrance to Halės Turgus indoor market shows 9am as I wander past a throng of elderly ladies setting up baskets of foraged boletus mushrooms on the steps on the mural-daubed fringe of the Station District this lofty landmark has been the city’s biggest trading post for more than a century bars and food stalls is a charismatic clash of tradition and modernity Between an abundance of stalls stacked with staples including juniper-smoked pork knuckles I meet the mother and daughter duo behind new-wave cheesemonger Roots between serving customers kefir and cottage cheese slice me samples of their artisanal bestsellers: waxy aged cheese sitting somewhere between gouda and parmesan past mountains of cranberries and pickled cucumbers a growing queue for the oven-fresh wares at Beigelistai bakery embodies the revival of Vilnius’s Jewish heritage all but erased during the Second World War which specialises in American-style barbecue team member Kostas pours me a satisfyingly malty glass of gira the carbonated Baltic drink made from fermented rye bread which he describes as Lithuanian Coca-Cola capitalism began and all these strange new products from overseas started to arrive,” he says modern butchery and into a rear hall heaving with apparel the scene here shifts and DJs play techno as a handful of bars serve amaro cocktails to a boisterous crowd Stallholders sometimes turn up the following morning with the party still going strong “There’s a real community spirit and the best part is that you’ve got all the traditional stuff as well as people trying something new,” says Kostas adding that while the market is becoming popular with tourists A constant through German and Soviet occupation as well as two declarations of Lithuanian independence Halės Turgus remains a reliable barometer for the city’s evolving tastes Ragutis would likely approve of what’s brewing in Naujoji Vilnia (New Vilnius), a former industrial district flanking the river, just 15 minutes by train from the Old Town. Here, surrounded by dense pine forest, family-owned Sakiškės Brewery has set up shop at Dūmu Fabrikas, a former factory. It’s in this expansive hall, which doubles as a venue for live events, that I meet Gintaras Bingelis from the Sakiškės Brewery team. Gesturing at the 24 taps that line the sleek bar, he explains what’s driven a passion project that began in 2015. “What we do is so-called ‘modern’ beer — taking traditional styles and making new recipes,” he says, from our mezzanine-level vantage point, overlooking the brewery’s 12 fermentation tanks. “We aim to produce two new styles of beer every month.” Among the standouts, I sample an excellent IPA — hazy, hoppy and sour — and a coffee- and chocolate-accented imperial stout. Two more unconventional beers, shaped by local ingredients, arrive in the form of an earthy beetroot ale and a pilsner flavoured with pinecones, whose fragrant notes pair well with slices of smoked sausage from a platter of accompanying cheeses and charcuterie. Medieval menuBeaver stew isn’t often found on menus in Vilnius Lokys’ team insists. In the vaulted cellar of this flamboyant family restaurant, waitress Jurgita explains the historical approach to cooking. “Many places that sell ‘traditional’ Lithuanian food focus on potatoes — pancakes, dumplings or kugelis [potato casserole] — but potatoes only became popular about 150 years ago, so we decided to look further back.” A deep dive through diaries, memoirs and recipe books from the medieval noble classes, when Lithuania was a Grand Duchy, helped shape Lokys’ dishes. Its menu of wild meats and foraged foods doubles as a history lesson. We begin with beer snacks: fried rye bread, smoked strips of pig’s ear, zingy pickles and aged cheeses with sea buckthorn jam. It was the Karaims (Turkic-speaking Jews from Crimea who arrived at the behest of 14th-century ruler Vytautas the Great) who brought cucumbers, cabbages and preservation techniques to the country, Jurgita tells me. Next, I feast on roasted boar (beloved of the city’s founder, Grand Duke Gediminas) topped with a berry jus that cuts through the tender, fatty meat. Jurgita explains that the Milan-born Grand Duchess Bona Sforza is to thank for the healthier menu items, with the former first lady having introduced basil, tomato and garlic from her native Italy in the 16th century. “She tried to introduce more greens to the diet of a population that largely ate meat.” European telco Telia has sold its Telia Latvia business to Tet while its Lithuanian unit has announced plans for a new data center in the capital Vilnius Telia Company has entered into an agreement to sell its 100 process ownership in Telia Latvija to local ISP Tet SIA (formely Lattelecom) for €10.75 million ($12.1m) after an auction process The deal is expected to close during the second quarter of 2022 Telia Latvija has 46 employees and offers telecommunications and media services & solutions; it operates a data center in the capital Tet also operates a data center in Riga The company is 51 percent owned by the Latvian Government with Telia owning the remaining 49 percent through its subsidiary Tilts Communications Tet and Telia also own 23 percent 60.3 percent of Latvian mobile operator LMT respectively “We have run a competitive auction process for the sale of Telia Latvia during the autumn where a significant number of potential buyers were invited,” said Andreas Ekström “We are pleased that we have now reached an agreement with Tet who with this acquisition will strengthen its position within the enterprise segment with Telia Latvia’s network and technology assets and highly skilled employees.” added: “Tet’s strategy is to accelerate growth via acquisitions and we are very excited about the opportunity to acquire Telia Latvia We believe our businesses complement each other especially within our data center and transmission business.” Telia Lietuva this week announced that it has purchased a 2-hectare plot of land in Raisteniškės near Vilnius and plans to invest €10 million ($11.3m) building what it claims will be the largest data center in the country Details on timelines or specifications weren’t shared but the new facility will reportedly use a modular design to enable easier expansion in the future Telia Lietuva currently operates two data centers in and around Vilnius in Žirmūnai and Naujoji Vilnia that have both recently had renovations and upgrades “A significant increase in the need for IT services for businesses and public sector organizations during the pandemic has become a part of a new which in turn led to our decision to build a new Having connected three data centers located in different parts of Vilnius into a single infrastructure we will gain an even greater competitive advantage and will be able to offer our customers unique IT solutions and even more security,” said Daniel Karpovič Data Centre Dynamics Ltd (DCD), 32-38 Saffron Hill, London, EC1N 8FH Email. [email protected]DCD is a subsidiary of InfraXmedia The Seimas will hold a commemoration in the historic March 11 Act Hall on Friday with an opening speech from Seimas Speaker Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen Other speakers will include exile Algimantas Simonaitis theatre director Eglė Svedkauskaitė and Aleksas Bartkus pupil from Marijampolė Sūduva gymnasium and author of the book „Asmenybės okupacijų labirintuose“ (Personalities in the Labyrinths of Occupations) A minute’s silence will be held in memory of the victims of the occupation just before noon a ceremony will take place in Independence Square followed by a procession from Independence Square to Aukų Street to lay flowers at the monuments to political prisoners and exiles Later in the day a nearly 24-hour historical remembrance action called „Atminties neištremsi“ (Memories will not be Exiled) will start outside the Museum of Occupations and Freedom Fights in Vilnius Events commemorating the tragic losses and resistance during the Day of Mourning and Hope and the Day of Occupation and Genocide will also take place on Friday at the memorial of Naujoji Vilnia railway station A Mass will be celebrated at the Vilnius Cathedral Basilica on Friday evening the Soviet Union began its occupation of Lithuania and a year later carried out the first mass deportations of Lithuanians to Siberia At the time more than 30,000 people were forcibly put into cattle wagons and brought out of the country by rail Lithuania lost a total of around 800,000 of its population Approximately 300,000 people suffered the horrors of the communist regime – prisons One in three of those arrested died from torture More than 440,000 citizens fled Lithuania to escape the communist terror Both of these stores were equipped with new LED lighting "In the Maxima stores in Naujoji Vilnia and Klaipėda customers who came to shop were greeted by the delicious smell of sweet buns and other delicious baked goods from the very morning these stores will have an expanded range of not only fresh buns the vegetable section is almost twice as large poultry and dairy products," says Indrė Trakimaitė-Šeškuvienė Director of the Communication and Corporate Relations Department at Maxima so customers can buy freshly smoked poultry and fish right there the area of ​​the fruit and vegetable refrigerator in Klaipėda Maxima has been doubled and customers will find an even wider assortment of fruits and vegetables: salads and their mixes and a selection of pickled and pickled vegetables With the expansion of refrigeration equipment it will be possible to find a wider range of frozen products In both Naujoji Vilnia and Klaipėda "Maximos" customers can also find "Master Quality" culinary and confectionery products which are offered already packaged in the capital "Maxima in Naujoji Vilnia has been in business for 24 years - this store is particularly popular with local customers the walls were repainted and 5 new-generation self-service checkouts were installed shopping will be even faster and more convenient more than half of whom are long-term Maxima employees," shares a Maxima representative Klaipėda's Maxima also surprised customers with the expanded number of self-service checkouts after renovation works - from now on there will be 14 of them with a sales area of ​​more than 2760 sq m 21 of whom have been working in the retail chain for more than 5 years and 9 for more than 15 years Both renovated stores will be open daily from 8 a.m In the first week of opening of the renovated Maximos customers will be able to purchase the specified products at significantly lower prices by taking advantage of special price offers in the opening brochures of these stores customers who shop with the "Ačiū" card will participate in a lottery each item in their shopping cart will cost 1 cent and the maximum discount will be 100 euros Visitors to "Maxima" in Naujoja Vilnia can also take advantage of exclusive offers at the renovated "Eurovaistinė" Vilnius during the final days of the Soviet occupation [Image: theatlantic.com] June 14 marked the Day of Mourning and Hope in Lithuania while June 15 marked the Day of Occupation and Genocide thousands of people paid their respects to the victims of Soviet terror and mass deportations over 30,000 members of the Lithuanian intelligensia from across the country were deported to Siberia and the far north of the Soviet Union in livestock wagons.  June 15 also marked the opening of the 12th Kilometre exhibition in the Seimas’ Stained Glass Gallery which pays tribute to deported Lithuanians murdered by the NKVD in Sverdlovsk between 1942 and 1943.  A commemoration to the victims was also held in the March 11 Hall of the Seimas took place in Vilnius’ Independence Square at noon the victims were honoured at the moment to political prisoners and deportees on Auku Street the location of the country's former KGB headquarters and the railway station of Naujoji Vilnia in Eastern Vilnius.  border guard Aleksandras Barauskas was honoured Barauskas was the first victim of the Soviet repression after being stabbed then shot in the back of the head with a revolver.  The day will also be marked by the unveiling of the Monument to the Fallen for Lithuanian Independence in Vilnius’ Antakalnis Cemetery.  According to data from the Genocide and Research Centre of Lithuania every third Lithuanian was a victim of the Soviet terror from 1940 to 1958.  The USSR invaded Lithuania twice; firstly in 1940 It was then occupied by Nazi Germany in 1941 as a consequence of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact between the Nazis and the USSR being broken with approximately 300,000 affected by imprisonment While in exile in Siberia and the Russian north or the region’s harsh climate.  Over 440,000 Lithuanians fled the country during the Soviet era.  Similar ceremonies in Latvia and Estonia also took place on June 14.  A subscription to The Baltic Times is a cost-effective way of staying in touch with the latest Baltic news and views enabling you full access from anywhere with an Internet connection. Subscribe Now! 2025 © The Baltic Times /Cookies Policy Privacy Policy About us | Advertise with us | Contact us Posted: 24 November 2016 | | No comments yet explains how the company is investing funds to improve and extend railway infrastructure in the region The Lithuanian railway company AB Lietuvos geležinkeliai (hereinafter – Lithuanian Railways) is a commercial company managed by the State The principal purpose of Lithuanian Railways is to generate added value (i.e revenues to the State) from freight carriage by rail Lithuanian Railways earns most of its revenues from international rail freight operations Passenger carriage is a loss-generating function of the company The following two international railway transport corridors crossing the territory of Lithuania are highly relevant for the entire European transport network: In the region of €770 million – or more than 59 % – of total investment was allocated to railway transport are those implemented by the State and are partly financed by EU funds Plans for the future are equally ambitious with a total of approximately €750 million intended for investment in the development of railway infrastructure Accomplishments and the forthcoming projects 2015 was the year that Stage I of the Rail Baltica project was completed including construction of the second track and electrification of the railway Lithuanian Railways implemented all the strategic railway infrastructure development projects partly funded by the EU 2007-2013 financing period Lithuanian Railways is currently at the stage of preparing – or has begun implementing – the following projects under the 2014-2020 EU financing period: once the projects are complete the performance of the railway operators will become much more efficient; however this is not the main benefit of the projects The most important outcomes of the projects are their benefit to society with a view to improving the social and ecological environment of the region The Rail Baltica project in Lithuania was implemented with support from the Connecting Europe Facility The only missing link to complete Phase I of the project is a European-gauge railway line in the Kaunas bypass (Jiesia–Rokai–Palemonas) and from the Kaunas railway station to the Logistics centre in Palemonas the European Commission allocated funding from the EITP fund which accounts for 85 % of the total investment; the remaining investment requirement is to be covered by Lithuanian Railways based on international agreements the Rail Baltica project will be organised and implemented by an entity set up by the three Baltic States Latvia and Estonia – established an international infrastructure 85% of which is financed by the European Commission A joint company established by the three Baltic States in Latvia will build a European railway line from Palemonas to Latvia; a European gauge link between Kaunas and Vilnius; and install a signalling and traffic management system (ERTMS) The value of the works in the territory of Lithuania alone accounts for approximately €3 billion (excl Installed signalling system – higher speed Lithuanian Railways has been consistently investing in the systems ensuring the safe traffic of trains In autumn 2016 the company installed signalling systems at 10 level crossings at the Rail Baltica section from Kaunas and Lithuanian and Polish state borders On 7 September 2016 a decision was made to transfer the ERTMS  installation functions to RB Rail It is vital that RB Rail install the system as soon as possible as that will shorten the duration of the 123km-long trip from Kaunas to Poland to just one hour The ERTMS will also ensure the fully-fledged operation of the Rail Baltic line and of the Kaunas public logistics centre Once the signalling and traffic management systems are installed at the Rail Baltica line – was provided for in the recommendations of the European Railway Agency – the speed of the passenger trains between Kaunas and the Lithuanian-Polish state border will be increased to 160km/h and to 240km/h after modernising the entire line An electrified line will connect Vilnius and Minsk Lithuanian Railways has been consistently dedicating significant attention to electrification projects directly related to the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions Between 2015 and 2016 Lithuanian Railways proceeded with the electrification of the section from the state border with Belarus–Kena–Naujoji Vilnia The purpose of the project is to shorten the time of a trip from Vilnius to Minsk to two hours The electrification will improve the economic indicators of railway carriers (due to reduced costs for electric resources and increased capacity of traction units) thus directly addressing ecology-related issues The electrification of the railway network would create the opportunity to shift from fossil fuels to the use of renewable resources in the railway sector This would alleviate the environmental impact of railways and increase its attractiveness to passengers while using environmentally-friendly rolling stock for rail freight A modern infrastructure – advantageous for business the volumes of freight transportation by rail have significantly decreased in the Asian and Eastern European regions Significant decreases in rail freight operations were also recorded in the states neighbouring Lithuania intensifying competition between rail companies of Central and Eastern European regions for rail freight Lithuania still manages to maintain its position mainly due to its convenient geographical location as well as highly attractive business climate Significant efforts are made to promote long-term cooperation with enhanced attention to the improvement of existing services and the creation of new ones Our recently renewed locomotive fleet is one of the most modern in Eastern Europe We use 44 locomotives (Eurorunner 20 CF from Siemens); manage a fleet of more than 8,500 wagons; and there are on-going initiatives to expand and modernise the loading yards including their technical equipment Currently Lithuanian Railways operates 68 stevedoring stations of which 10 are adapted for handling bulky freight The two modern intermodal terminals that started operating in 2015 in Vilnius and Kaunas enabled Lithuanian Railways to offer its customers safe less polluted and highly expedient operations as well as handling of the freight travelling both East-West and North-South The terminals opened new possibilities to enhance the mobility of freight; use vehicles more efficiently; improve the quality of customs services; reduce rail freight costs; and cooperate with companies operating in a large variety of sectors The terminals are located close to the airports which allows the three different transport modes to be integrated Šeštokai railway station plays a very special role in the implementation of the national significance infrastructure projects funded by the European Union also part of the expansion of rail Corridor No 8 of the Rail Baltica project (Bremenhafen/Roterdam/Antwerp–Achen/Berlin–Warsaw–Terespol/Kaunas) Every effort is made to maintain our traditional markets – Belarus Kazakhstan and Ukraine – while simultaneously expanding our operations in the Scandinavian Western European and Black Sea Basin countries For the convenience of our customers we operate our representations in Russia China and Kazakhstan – an additional representative office will shortly open in Poland It is worth mentioning that Lithuanian Railways is consistently upgrading its facilities modernised traffic management centre and installation of electronic means significantly accelerated our operations and contributed significantly to the improvement of the quality of customer services Stasys Dailydka has been Director General of JSC Lithuanian Railways since 2006 He qualified as an Engineer – after studying at the Vilnius Engineering Construction Institute in the Faculty of Mechanics Technology in 1975 – before acquiring a Technology Manager qualification at the Lithuanian Management Academy in 1991 Stasys was awarded a doctoral degree in 2011 from Vilnius Gediminas Technical University His working career includes managerial roles at Pakruojis Transport Enterprise and Vievis Transport Enterprise before taking on the role of Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Transport and Communications in 1987 In 1992 Stasys became Director General of Lithuanian Airlines He moved to Lithuanian Railways in 2002 in the role of Head of Passenger Transportation Directorate before taking on his current position as Director General , No comments yet All subscriptions include online membership giving you access to the journal and exclusive content By By By Comment * document.getElementById("comment").setAttribute( "id" "aa0c28e0afe082fecdc1daacd7dc5c20" );document.getElementById("j0f0bb4fb4").setAttribute( "id" Write for us | Advertise with us Global Railway Review is published by: Russell Publishing Ltd.Court LodgeHogtrough HillBrasted © Russell Publishing Limited Website development by e-Motive Media Limited A solemn commemoration took place at the Seimas and a minute of silence was observed in memory of the victims one minute before noon national flags were raised in Independence Square in Vilnius A commemoration ceremony was also held at the monuments to political prisoners and deportees in Vilnius where the names of deportees and political prisoners were read out Similar ceremonies are planned in other parts of the country a remembrance ceremony will be held at the Naujoji Vilnia railway station mass arrests and deportations of Lithuanians to inner parts of the Soviet Union and Siberia began According to the data of the Genocide and Resistance Research Centre of Lithuania killed and imprisoned about 23,000 people during the first occupation about 130,000 people were deported from Lithuania by 1953 and another 156,000 Lithuanians were imprisoned What we are witnessing now in Ukraine is a testimony to the experiences of Lithuanians who survived deportations Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė said on Friday “Not without reason today is a day not only of mourning It seems to me that these things fit together very nicely despite what we are seeing in Ukraine today,” the prime minister said at the Day of Mourning and Hope commemoration in the Seimas “What we are seeing in Ukraine is a testimony to the same things that our parents [...] It’s a manifestation of zero humanity in their lives,” she added Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said in a post on X that Russia is using the same methods in Ukraine that the Soviet Union used when it occupied Lithuania send trains full of your people to prison camps hold a fake referendum and pretend to save you from nazis by killing you Moscow has been using the same script since the night of June 14th 1941,” he wrote the Soviet Union launched mass deportations from Lithuania About 18,500 people were taken to exile or labour camps in Siberia including the country's former president Aleksandras Stulginskis A flower laying ceremony will take place at Antakalnis Cemetery at the monument for those who died for their homeland the public project ‘Mission Siberia’ is inviting people to hold a minute of silence Lithuania's flag will be hoisted during a solemn ceremony in the Independence Square outside the parliament A ceremony to honour victims of the Soviet occupation and Soviet-era repressions will be held at the monument of prisoners and deportees in Aukų Street in Vilnius Remember’ will start in Vilnius and other towns of Lithuania and people will read the names of deportees and political prisoners American Lithuanians will also join this campaign and will read the names in Washington at a monument to communism victims A memorial event will also take place at the Naujoji Vilnia railway station and a similar event will be held at the Genocide and Resistance Research Centre of Lithuania The names of deported teachers will be held at the Teachers' House in Vilnius A service will be held at Vilnius Cathedral on Friday afternoon After the Soviets occupied Lithuania in 1940-1953 around 130,000 people were deported from the country and another 156,000 were imprisoned The 1,200-square-metre public garden is located outside the Palace of the Grand Dukes at the foot of the Gediminas Hill said the move would also highlight Lithuania's links with Bari the capital city of the Apulia region in southern Italy one of the streets in Bari was named Via Lituania “We have Italų (Italian) Street in Naujoji Vilnia and streets named after Kings Sigismunds and Barbora Radvilaitė (Barbara Radziwill),” Baškienė said we still have few signs commemorating the queen who was the first to memorialise Vytautas the Great in the Cathedral (of Vilnius) who carried out a reform of Lithuanian cities and towns who restored the residential palace of Lithuanian rulers and brought Italian culture to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania,” she added Vilnius Mayor Remigijus Šimašius welcomed the decision “Bona Sforza drew a lot of reproach because of Barbora Radvilaitė “I think it's great that Vilnius will commemorate Bona Sforza in a place that is most suitable for her.” Sforza vehemently opposed the marriage of her son Sigismund II Augustus (Žygimantas Augustas) daughter of an influential Lithuanian magnate family head of the municipal Historical Memory Commission confirmed that the panel will soon propose to name a street in Vilnius after Bari a member of the powerful House of Sforza and the second wife of Sigismund I the Old is best known for carrying out the Volok land reform in the Grand Duchy and promoting the European Renaissance culture in Lithuania She is regarded as the founder of modern Polish and Lithuanian cuisines Read more: Walk through UNESCO love trail in Vilnius – top things to see and do Ingrida Šimonytė became a member of our party today,” Prievelis told BNS on Tuesday evening “She joined our party’s Naujoji Vilnia branch.” The Homeland Union expects that the prime minister’s move will encourage more people to join the party Šimonytė served as finance minister in the cabinet of conservative Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius from 2009 to 2012 and was elected on the Homeland Union’s ticket to the parliament in 2016 She also ran for president as the Homeland Union’s candidate in 2019 and led the party’s list in the last parliamentary election in 2020 Šimonytė was appointed prime minister after the conservatives’ victory “The desire to escape the Soviet empire was boundless We have never been so united again,” says the director of the feature film January His film is also a tribute to the legendary Latvian documentary filmmaker Juris Podnieks (1950-1992) filmed the unforgettable images of January 13 Lithuanian and Polish co-production – opens in Lithuanian cinemas It is an autobiographical look at the youthful dreams and events that brought down the Soviet Union and restored freedom to the Baltic states together with his friends Anna (Alise Dzene) and Zep (Sandis Runge) enjoy the freedom of their youth and dream of becoming intellectual filmmakers Bergman and Jarmusch are ever on their lips the young people’s destinies are changed by the need to participate in peaceful resistance and to record political events is unable to find himself at a time of great change and sees no purpose in the future there was much to fear – everything was falling apart you could only study cinema in Moscow or Leningrad (now St Petersburg) “I remember finding myself in some kind of enclosed space You walk through it and you still don’t know how to break through the ice,” says Kairišs (born 1971) His fears reached a climax in January 1991 Everyone felt that the hope of freedom could be destroyed starting on January 13 in the Lithuanian capital and continuing until the tragic day of January 20 in Riga “The reaction of the Latvian people to the actions of the invaders [in Vilnius] was overwhelming Half a million people gathered in Riga on the day of January 13 to protest The Latvian People’s Front called for barricades to be erected to prevent a repeat of the Vilnius tragedy Everyone flocked to Riga and by the evening the city was transformed into one huge fortress they took to the streets ready to die for freedom,” the director recalls January 13 scratched a long-hidden wound from 50 years of occupation “I think it is the most important date in the history of modern Latvia Latvians felt great support and protested against the Soviet Union The desire to get out of the empire once and for all was boundless We have never been so united again,” says Kairišs A large part of it is captured by the legendary Latvian documentary filmmaker Juris Podnieks the filmmakers decided to film January with old cameras “It was not so easy to find them,” says the director “This solution gives the feeling that the actors are in a historical time The documentary footage used in the film is very well-known in Latvia and painfully familiar to Lithuanians felt at the time that the main events would take place in Lithuania so he came to Vilnius in January specifically to show his films and together with the cameraman Aleksandrs Demčenko he was caught up in the whirlwind of action The episode of the special unit Omon officers attacking unarmed people near the Lithuanian Radio and Television building with a machine gun was filmed by these Latvian documentary filmmakers Juris made sure that the entire free world saw the images from Vilnius they were broadcast by the biggest TV stations on the planet,” says Kairišs Soviet troops killed seven civilians in January Five were shot by a sniper outside the Ministry of the Interior on January 20 including two well-known Latvian cameramen working with Podnieks The death of one of them is depicted at the end of his film “This is an ethically very difficult scene where we tried to combine documentary with fiction A man dies for the sake of filmmaking – it was very important for me to show that,” says the filmmaker He used very famous shots of the Riga barricades – a cameraman being carried out on a stretcher Kairišs dedicates January to all the filmmakers who have died filming history He was very upset about the death of his colleagues and even considered himself guilty – he lost his health he didn’t force his colleagues to go to the centre of Riga that night to film but he thought that the fatal bullet was aimed at him His death in a lake one year later was the stuff of legends,” Kairišs says the character of Podnieks (played by Juhan Ulfsak) in the film links the deaths of the young cinematographers and cameramen on January 20 – fiction and reality Latvian music of the time plays an important role in the film This is the kind of cinema that young filmmakers dreamed of making “Music influenced the lifestyle of young people It was a revelation for me – it’s very suggestive music in general played a huge role when the Soviet Union fell the first to give voice to what others were quietly feeling,” says Kairišs is played by the Lithuanian actor Aleksas Kazanavičius Many of the film’s scenes were shot in Vilnius and Naujoji Vilnia and more Lithuanian artists contributed to the production: music was written by composer Justė Janulytė and costumes were designed by Rūta Lečaitė The world premiere of January took place last June at the Tribeca Film Festival in the USA where it was awarded as the best foreign film It also won three awards at the Rome International Film Festival January also won the best director award at the Warsaw Film Festival Laws criminalising sexual relations between men – though not women – also came to Lithuania with the Soviet penal code it was a method of control – the KGB could blackmail people with evidence of their “sexual deviance” deep-seated anti-LGBT attitudes in Lithuania persisted “The pathologisation of homosexuality has continued from the Soviet period right up to the present day and there are constant battles in institutions interpret things differently,” says the scholar of Vienna University Your current research looks at homosexuality in the Soviet era Tell us more about it what you are researching My research is about the history of sexual minorities in Lithuania during the Soviet era and the post-socialist transformation [...] I’m interested in the history of homophobia its institutionalisation in various publications and discourses how it medicalised and pathologised homosexuality and various sexualities and identities that transgress heteronormative norms I am interested in the stories of people who lived during the Soviet and immediate post-Soviet periods people who felt that they were outside that norm a lot of haters as well as people who are trying very hard to achieve equality This debate is at its peak and it seems to me that it is rooted in the Soviet era there isn’t quite enough research on this topic in Lithuania and Lithuanian historical research is still quite conservative with little attention to the history of everyday life Only recently have there appeared researchers who are interested in these topics [...] How was homosexuality perceived and what did it mean to be part of the LGBT community in Soviet Lithuania There was no such thing as the LGBT community in the Soviet era but people still managed to understand themselves somehow even though it must have been very difficult because there were no conceptual tools to approach it But they were able to have relationships with other people of the same sex they were even able to create social spaces – cafés Homosexual men in particular were able to create social spaces in the bigger cities of Lithuania and the Soviet Union It is very important to say that there were homosexual people in Soviet times no positive descriptions or explanations of what it was There were literally no words to describe sexuality in a positive way the word ‘gay’ (gėjus) only came to Lithuania after independence (1990) and the words used until then were very medicalized and pathologising People who felt they were ‘different’ had to go through a difficult process but it was as if they didn’t have the words to talk about it But it wasn’t that no one talked about it at all It was not talked about in a ‘polite society’ They gave definitions of homosexuality or transsexuality They’d sometimes list 10 different causes of homosexuality psychological causes to abuse at an early age mother’s smoking and drinking during pregnancy homosexuality was both medicalised and criminalised at the same time – seen as both a disease and a crime You could say it was seen as a crime against Soviet morality Homosexual relations between men were criminalised Soviet law was only interested in homosexual relations between men many countries in history have only criminalised sexual relations between men there were moves to include women’s homosexuality in the new Penal Code It was even proposed to introduce penalties for oral and anal sex for all people the wording was not changed and only sex between men remained a crime Why were only male homosexual relations criminalised I think male sexuality is generally more visible Sexuality in a patriarchal society is controlled in order to ensure the continuity of the male lineage and inheritance and this is historically linked to gender inequality as women have been more relegated to the domestic sphere while men have been given the public sphere There is a myth that communists were sexually liberal [...] There was a brief period in the history of the Soviet Union after the revolution when the elites actually experimented with the idea that maybe there could be some sexual freedom in a communist system It was very short-lived and Lithuania was not involved in it the Soviet Union radically changed direction and started controlling sexuality very strongly the criminalisation came with the Soviet law consensual sexual relations between men were not penalised in Lithuania there was inequality – a man who raped a boy or another man who could not give consent was punished much more severely than a man who raped a girl or a woman under which sexual relations between men were punishable by between three and five years in prison the punishment was a little lighter – up to three years in prison we still do not have historical research to tell us whether men were actually persecuted and punished under this article Aren’t there any surviving documents about how many men could have been punished for homosexuality What we do know is that [evidence of homosexual relations] was probably used by the KGB as a blackmail tool We already have studies done in Soviet Russia – many men were convicted and imprisoned under that very article And how would law enforcement discover about a person’s homosexuality If someone wanted to take revenge on a man It is important to say that alongside prison sentences it was possible for prisoners to “choose” treatment the choice between prison and Soviet treatment is not a choice Soviet psychiatrists followed outdated methods and had devised ways to “convert” homosexual men Psychiatry in the Soviet Union committed many crimes and homosexual people were one of those tortured groups One of the proposed ways of converting homosexual men to heterosexuality was aversion therapy The idea was simple – people were given drugs that caused nausea and sickness and then shown pictures of naked men or erotic homosexual scenes People would get sick because of the drugs They were then given stimulant drugs and shown photographs of women But not all psychiatrists in the Soviet era were monsters – there were people who tried to help homosexual people in their own way [...] We have difficulty in establishing how homosexuality was or was not “treated” in Lithuania and we have to rely on the testimonies of psychiatrists Everybody says that none of that was happening in Lithuania that Lithuanian psychiatrists tried to protect homosexual people today we know that homosexuality cannot be “cured” that trying to change a person’s sexual orientation with “conversion” or “aversion” therapies can make people depressed How did this medicalisation and criminalisation of homosexuality in the Soviet Union compare to the situation in other countries with a conservative ethic that saw love and desire as a Platonic extension of Soviet friendship Sexuality was not a subject that could be talked about the Soviet Union forged a communist society out of a deeply peasant and religious culture – a lot of traditional and religious beliefs and this formed an ethical base which was deeply conservative It was a very traditionalist peasant society the decriminalisation of homosexuality came earlier than even in some Western countries But what happened in the West that could not happen in the socialist countries were social movements where LGBT people came together to fight for their rights Lithuania remains a much less LGBT-friendly country than Western Europe Do these attitudes come from the Soviet era I am of the opinion that the Soviet era still does affect our society To say that the Soviet era has no effect is to say that history has no effect on our society –it is part of our history I think that we can see continuity of all phenomena that existed in the Soviet era into the post-Soviet period The pathologisation of homosexuality has continued from the Soviet period right up to the present day there was very little talk about sexuality there appeared more so-called sexual education publications Soviet authorities began to try to educate the society and to fashion a Soviet family Then Soviet sex education publications appear we translated most of them from other countries – from Poland East Germany – but we also have a regional book written by a Latvian oncologist [Jānis Zālītis] who also considered himself a sexologist and a psychotherapist he published a book in Latvia called In the Name of Love it was translated and published in 100,000 copies The book pushed the boundaries of how to talk about sexuality in the Soviet Union; it offered a communist discourse about sex and the main concern was how to preserve harmony within the family Most people saw this book as revolutionary but it reiterated and further reinforced many extremely problematic things The late Soviet period was symptomatic of a conservative gender system that saw men as sexually active and aggressive and women as passive It reinforced the ideology of gender complementarity – a 19 century idea that the sexes are vastly different This is still the ideology of the Catholic Church and was also a common notion in the late Soviet era This book pathologises homosexuality enormously Such books reflected and shaped the conservative understanding of sexuality in the Soviet era the Lithuanian society clang to this Soviet traditionalist understanding of sexuality – it wasn’t some exclusively national Kulienė has worked in the night shelter since its opening and says that anyone can end up here – former pilots “We have a variety of people staying at the shelter for shorter or longer periods of time: we also accommodate older people [...] who do not have any relatives and have nowhere else to go,” she says “There are people who start their lives anew The average age of residents is 40-50 years [...] The mission of the shelter is to integrate them [help them] be a part of the society rather than live in exclusion to help people understand that life does not end here,” says Kulienė Such help has allowed many residents to get back on their feet Each resident also receives personal psychological assistance according to the press release issued by the Vilnius City authorities.One resident of the shelter came to Vilnius to look for a job with just one euro in his pocket Having received information on where to turn to for accommodation at the Information Centre Saulius has lived in the shelter for a month now “I gave up my addictions and I'm currently working at a workshop [...] I am not ashamed of the fact that I live here – I understand that none of the people who live in the shelter ended up here voluntarily,” says Saulius whose dream is to visit his daughter in Ireland One of the current temporary residents of the shelter is Gžegož who ended up in here because of his addiction the 55-year-old man was treated at a rehabilitation centre and now he lives in a shelter on Kojelavičiaus street God knows were I would be now,” says Gžegož and have been put on a waiting list for social housing because there was a time when I did not want to live The building that houses the shelter is currently in a very poor condition “We desperately need to renovate the building because we accommodate even more people during the winter according to the Vilnius City Administration's press release the renovation works will only start in October Besides improving the existing facilities and adding more services the shelter will offer social services with new integration programmes The aim is to integrate homeless people into the society more effectively The existing shelter premises will also be expanded in the course of the reconstruction to include 60 temporary and 40 long-term accommodation units More than 2 million euros was allocated for the renovation of which nearly 1.7 million euros come from the European Regional Development Fund Local community protests temporary relocationThe night shelter residents will be temporary housed in Naujininkai area in Vilnius until the renovation is finished the temporary relocation met resistance from local residents tells LRT.lt that the public was not informed about the decision to house the night shelter in place of a liquidated children socialisation center the community will try to prevent the night shelter from opening in their neighbourhood “It’s a pitty that without looking at long-term and large initiatives by Naujininkai residents to improve the image of their neighbourhood there’s again a proposal to set up problematic social institutions” in the area Vilnius authorities emphasise that the night shelter in Naujininkai will be only temporary Beaches can be awarded the international Blue Flag Award for outstanding environmental and service quality seven Lithuanian beaches have been awarded Blue Flags The beach at Lake Balsis is often referred to by locals as simply the Green Lakes Beach It is one of the largest and most beautiful public beaches in Vilnius with a well-developed infrastructure for active recreation and picnics: there are three piers for swimming and sunbathing and a specially designed swimming area for people with reduced mobility nine picnic tables and eight free barbecues Žirmūnai Beach is located in the central part of the city making it easily accessible on foot or by bicycle This public beach in Vilnius has a well-developed infrastructure for active recreation and picnics which is somewhat more modest than that of Lake Balsis but is not inferior to it in terms of entertainment possibilities There is also a swimming and changing area for people with reduced mobility Valakampiai 1st Beach is another Blue Flag beach located in the heart of Antakalnis pine forests The beach is easily accessible by public transport or by bicycle It is not accessible to people with reduced mobility but it offers more opportunities for active leisure Valakampiai 2nd Beach is for a quieter time by the water and has a separate nudist area It is also surrounded by the pine forests of Antakalnis and is easily accessible by public transport or bicycle There are the usual amenities: changing cubicles The 1st and 2nd beaches of Lake Balžis are two more natural oases surrounded by the pine forests of Antakalnis is easily accessible by public transport or bicycle The beaches are suitable for water sports: there are ski jumps The beaches of Lake Tapeliai are nestled in the pine forests of Antakalnis The beaches of this lake are designed for recreational fishing so in addition to the usual facilities for jumping into the water and sunbathing you will also find a fishing pier for people with reduced mobility Salotė Lake beach is a beach on the outskirts of Pilaitė with facilities and entertainment options There is everything one may want for a comfortable stay: changing rooms Gilužis Lake beach is located at the edge of Pilaitė and is easily accessible by bike or on foot The Vingio Park beach is located on the bank of the Neris River and is pet-friendly Dvarčionys Lake beach is another delight in the pine forests of Antakalnis with all the necessary amenities: changing rooms Grigiškės Beach is located in a bend of the Vokė River has all the necessary facilities: changing rooms Naujoji Vilnia beach is still under developed swimming is not recommended here as the water quality does not meet hygiene standards Information about water temperature and quality here Lithuania marks the Mourning and Hope Day on June 14 commemorating the start of the occupation by the Soviet Union in 1940 and the beginning of mass deportations The occupation of Lithuania and genocide were the most painful part of the country's 20-century history but the nation remained strong regardless of the cruel repressions says Parliamentary Speaker Loreta Graužinienė In her speech during the solemn ceremony at the parliament on Monday she stressed that "the horrific occupation of 1940 and the cynical and planned genocide of the Lithuanian nation is a sore historic truth which has changed the life of our nation in an irreversible and significant way" which lived an independent life for more than two centuries introducing modern innovations and presenting the world with a generation of talented creators of science created an extremely strong civil society with its own language understanding of the great history of the Lithuanian nation self-awareness and respect to a person's freedom as the key value of humanity," said the parliamentary speaker She emphasized that the nation kept resisting during the Soviet rule the world witnessed a small nation's courage and struggle give the crucial impetus to the developments of the end of the 20th century when the great empire of lies aggression and deprivation of people's spirit – the Soviet Union – collapsed We can take pride in our strength for fighting for the right to remain ourselves and be free Regardless of the cruel repressions and Soviet ideology the spirit of the Lithuanian nation was never broken," she added she listed the achievements of today's Lithuania: "We are here – a free state in an advanced Let's take strength from our past and share it with those who greatly need it today." Mass deportations of Lithuanian residents to Russia was started in early hours of June 14 More than 280,000 people were deported from Lithuania in 1940–1953 Lithuania lost 800,000 people during the period of the Soviet occupation Approximately 300,000 people suffered from the Communist regime in prisons forced labour camps amd exile in Siberia and the Far North More than 440,000 Lithuanians fled the country from the Communist regime Based on the data of the Genocide and Resistance Research Centre of Lithuania (LGGRTC) every third Lithuanian citizen was victim of the Soviet genocide and terror in 1940-1958  On Monday the exhibition the 12th Kilometre: Lithuanian Citizens Executed in Sverdlovsk in 1942-1943 has opened in the Seimas' Stained Glass Gallery A solemn commemoration of the Day of Mourning and Hope and the Day of Occupation and Genocide will be held at the March 11 Hall of the Seimas A minute of silence will be observed for the victims of occupation before 12 p.m A flag raising ceremony will be held in Vilnius Independence Square at noon genocide and Soviet repressions will be honoured at the monuments to political prisoners and deportees in Aukų street near Lukiškių Square and in Naujoji Vilnia railway station The memory of the first victim of the Soviet occupation  The Monument to the Fallen for Lithuanian Independence will be unveiled in Vilnius Antakalnis Cemetery in the afternoon The Museum of Genocide Victims and the Memorial Complex of the Tuskulėnai Peace Park will be open to visitors PHOTO: DELFI / Karolina Pansevič Lithuania is on Friday marking the Day of Mourning and Hope the anniversary of the beginning of mass deportations of Lithuanian citizens in the Soviet era A flower laying ceremony will take place at Antakalnis Cemetery at the monument for those who died for their homeland and later the Seimas will hold a solemn sitting the public project "Mission Siberia" is inviting people to hold a minute of silence A ceremony to honor victims of occupation, genocide and Soviet-era repressions will be held at the monument of prisoners and deportees in Auku Street in Vilnius Remember" will start in Vilnius and other cities of Lithuania and people will read the names of deportees and political prisoners American Lithuanian will also join this campaign and they will read the names in Washington at a monument to communism victims A memorial event will also take place at Naujoji Vilnia railway station and a similar event will be held at the Genocide and Resistance Research Center of Lithuania municipal heating will be switched on gradually starting with Fabijoniškės Baltupiai and Grigiškės on Monday and Tuesday central heating will be switched on in the districts of Antakalnis and from Wednesday and Thursday – in the districts of Paneriai Vilnius will be using low-sulfur fuel oil for heating this year senior officials of Vilnius Municipality earlier said that this measure would help keep households’ heating bills at last year’s level and projected that a monthly heating bill for a 50-square-metre apartment in a renovated and a non-renovated block of flats might reach 33 euros and 55 euros Kaunas Municipality claims that households in Lithuania’s second-largest city will be paying up to one-fifth less for heating compared to average bills across the country Panevėžys and Šiauliai started supplying district heating to households in the beginning of last week Klaipėda will kick off the heating season later due to higher temperatures and the local authority of the port city yet has to make decisions on the issue "I don't want to see another facility that will be multifunctional and will host football there when other very 'important' events are over," he said at a press conference on Wednesday. The Seimas said the leader of the Democratic Union "For Lithuania".  "If I had known that the stadium would become a concert arena - they were the priority not football - the government would not have given a single euro," he said.    Skvernelis also suggests solving the problem of the construction of the Naujoji Vilnia football complex more quickly.  the state would not need a contribution," said the Speaker of the Seimas.  Skvernelis has said that the National Stadium project should be implemented by the Vilnius Municipality including party leader Remigijus Žemaitaitis registered a draft resolution of the Seimas and propose to halt the construction of the National Stadium until a detailed economic and financial assessment of the project is conducted They base their proposal on the changed geopolitical situation which forces Lithuania to "urgently review state budget priorities and direct additional funds to defense Vilnius City Council approved changes to the complex's concession agreement - if the risk sharing is changed the project would cost the municipality and the state 155 million euros The multifunctional complex with the national football stadium includes 15 facilities – an 18-seat stadium After Lithuania declared its independence from the Soviet Union as well as law enforcement officers still remember how the processes of rejecting the rouble and introducing the litas were accompanied by shady dealings and how criminal elements managed to exploit the period of radical change The issue of introducing national currency was raised as soon as the Supreme Council declared Lithuania an independent state in 1990 Inflation was raging across the Soviet Union and it was made even worse by the banknote “reform” authored by the then Prime Minister of the USSR Valentin Pavlov Money was losing its value at such a pace that the Central Bank of Moscow could not print enough rouble notes The Lithuanian leadership had to come up with a way – and do it fast – of getting a separate currency and thus hopefully curtailing inflation Temporary vouchers were introduced that were soon dubbed “animals” (the notes were decorated with pictures of animals) or “vagnorkės” – after the then Prime Minister Gediminas Vagnorius these vouchers were used as universal method of payment and had to be presented in addition to roubles vouchers became the principal means of conducting economic transactions The way that the first issue of “vagnorkės” was printed remind an episode from a spy novel even though Lithuania had already declared independence it was not recognised de jure by the rest of the world and Soviet special services were still operating within its borders so the new currency had to be printed in total secrecy “Numerators were brought separately from Sweden Everything was assembled in Lithuania and the notes printed almost in the underground several months after the tragic January events (in 1991) the vouchers were put into circulation,” the former prime minister recalls director of the Finance Department at the Faculty of Economics of Vilnius University was heading the Foreign Relations and Information Department at the Bank of Lithuania in 1992 She recalls that not everyone was happy with the plan of having a national currency: “Great many people from the Soviet banking establishment actively opposed the introduction of our own money some wanted to protect their own interests and remain in the rouble zone.” Having started pursuing independent monetary policies Lithuania feared that the occupying forces might flood the country with inflated roubles And there already had been a precedent for that the first secretary of the Communist Party who was loyal to Moscow founded the Association of Free Entrepreneurs and used the Bank of Naujoji Vilnia one of the first commercial banks in the country The USSR State Bank granted the Bank of Naujoji Vilnia the status of an all-union bank and extended a credit of 280 million roubles for the year 1991 who was then deputy prime minister and head of the State Security Department says that great many individuals close to Burokevičius' party became stinky rich via the Bank of Naujoji Vilnia: “Russians would pay all military officers They'd lend as much money as they wanted Many people made a fortune during the inflation Vagnorius' memories from this period of radical change are similar: “Over the years 1991-1992 the politicized financial system of Russia could have dumped fictitious roubles on the Lithuanian market between the January putsch and the August putsch a fictitious rouble emission was carried out via the Bank of Naujoji Vilnia.” The transition from the rouble to the temporary currency Legends and suspicions abound regarding the fate of rouble notes that were taken out of circulation There were talks that Vilnius criminal bosses capitalized on the money who has investigated the fate of Russian roubles quotes prosecutor Gintaras Jasaitis of the Prosecutor General Office “How were the rouble notes taken out of Lithuania A little information leaked out at the time I am certain that special services were well informed about the circumstances,” the prosecutor once commented There are still legends in Vilnius about how shrewd underground characters with links to the Russian nomenklatura or the new Lithuanian government would load worthless roubles onto trucks or planes and secretly take them to the Soviet Union where they'd use the money to buy tangible assets They'd later sell them and make some capital for their further ventures Former prime minister Vagnorius says he has heard similar talks but attaches no particular importance to them: “Late Bronislovas Lubys could tell you more about the deportation of rouble notes But I do not give credence to these rumours then Moscow – more than capable and willing to defend its monetary interests – would have made a scandal of it,” he says It was not easy to control such massive flows of cash especially for the newly established law enforcement institutions of the young state the Lithuanian government had no real control over the border or certain financial instruments Russia's central bank was printing money offhandedly it was the Bank of Lithuania that was collecting rouble notes It kept a record and was obliged to return the notes to Russia But it was a time when governments followed one another Hyperinflation hit Russia later than it hit Lithuania opportunities during the transition period to abuse the system were more plentiful than one can imagine now,” Vaišvila recalls who was one of the Independence Act signatories tells 15min about negotiations with the Russian State Bank on the terms of the handover – the roubles taken out of circulation in a civilized way were to be kept in the vaults of the Bank of Lithuania “And this was what the first management of the Bank of Lithuania did the media used to run stories about shipments of roubles to Russia about the money being lent to commercial banks as the board of the Bank of Lithuania was made up of yesterday's policemen and similar “bankers”,” he says The second monetary reform in Lithuania happened in 1993 controversial decisions and suspicions of KGB involvement were plentiful the first issue of litas notes was of particularly bad quality “The government and the Bank of Lithuania management agreed to print litas notes as cheaply as possible with only basic precautions against counterfeiting Only notes of higher denomination were to be better protected Many factors were taken into our consideration To print an issue of money cost 8-10 million US dollars while the Government had only several hundred thousand in its dollar account And with a likely hyper-inflation in sight it was hardly to be expected that people would want to forge litas notes,” Terleckas says the law enforcement later revealed that one KGB agent compromised the higher-denominated notes by instructing a printing house in the US to remove a security thread It was decided to not exchange vouchers for litas at a one-to-one ratio but rather make the litas more valuable “In preparation for introducing the national currency the Litas Committee decided to set a one-to-one exchange rate It was thought that this way we'd be able to avoid speculation and rounding-up of prices but the Government decided to exchange vouchers at a rate of one hundred vouchers for one litas This presented extra technical difficulties since they had printed as many litas notes as there were vouchers in circulation We had more high-denomination notes than we needed The thousand-litas note was never released Meanwhile we were short on low-denomination notes,” Jasienė recounts surplus litas notes were to be destroyed – even though no one can confirm it actually done with any certainty now The initial design of the litas was not safe there were a lot of counterfeit notes in circulation It was decided to gradually replace the old litas notes with a new design one that was better protected against forgeries Notes taken out of circulation were to be destroyed The first litas notes were printed as early as in 1991 covered with the Government's foreign currency and gold reserves managed to stabilize Lithuania's finances and inflation abated Lithuania introduced a currency board and fixed the litas-US dollar exchange rate at 4 to 1 the voucher-litas and later litas-dollar exchange rate was probably set based on prices in Gariūnai – the biggest open-air market in the country at the time The dollar was over-valued and it had a depressing effect on Lithuanian exports as it unilaterally favoured foreign investors Jasienė says that when Lithuania opted for the currency board it was thought of as a temporary measure: “Many economists warned – it was not a complicated model to introduce A currency board is usually set up as a short-term measure they should have given up the currency board There was a monetary policy programme for 1996-1999 drafter by the Bank of Lithuania It envisaged abandoning the currency board model within three years The programme was not implemented and no one speaks of it any more.” voucher-based privatization – all this left deep scars in the Lithuanian psyche it is hardly surprising that so many Lithuanians are sceptical about the Government's plans to introduce the euro Their fears might not be entirely unfounded “People fear the introduction of the euro for good reason because it is hard to pre-conceive all the effects this will have Not to mention taking on extra commitments Telling people that everything will be only good and there cannot be any negative effects is simply unfair so we can't really know the true exchange rate on the market we would switch to a floating exchange rate It is hard to envisage what the consequences will be If it turns out that the litas is overvalued we are looking at a price hike,” Jasienė warns She says that the authorities will benefit from exiting the currency board model and adopting the euro because they will no longer have to bear responsibility “I could compare the euro switch-over to putting Lithuania's economy into a hospital ward with contagious patients This chatter that prices will not rise reminds me of Soviet propaganda that there was no inflation in the USSR,” Terleckas is sceptical Former prime minister Vagrnorius begs to differ: “Lithuania does not have a national currency when the litas was pegged to the US dollar We are suspended between heaven and earth – and that is the worst condition of all we've been tied to the euro – a bridle that made Lithuania's GDP lose several billion litas every year it wouldn't be wise not to switch to a reliable monetary system that does not require keeping a currency reserve.” What will the new litas-euro exchange rate be Another question that raises some concern is the possibility that the litas-euro exchange rate will be revised before the switch-over The Bank of Lithuania says it will be the EU Council of economy and finance ministers that will set the exchange rate The plan is to announce it six months before the euro zone entry “We are now moving ahead blindly and do not know what the exchange rate will be The portfolio of euro loans in Lithuanian banks is worth tens of billions,” according to Vaišvila tells 15min that there is indeed a risk of that happening but it is negligible: “Life is the best assurance Lithuania is one of the few countries that have not revised their currency exchange rate since 1994 Our ability to stick to the fixed exchange rate system is proven by twenty years of experience It would not be wise for anyone to try and alter the rate without a good reason Any exchange rate revision would present a huge loss to the national economy and the people The experience of other states that have adopted the euro shows that politicians try to avoid any unpleasant surprises they freeze the exchange rate at what it is on that day.” Lithuania will have to exchange about 10 billion litas that is in cash circulation – or about 100 million notes.