On Wednesday, President Nausėda met with MP Kasčiūnas at the Presidential Palace in Vilnius.

President’s chief national security adviser, Kęstutis Budrys, told reporters at the press conference afterwards that before deciding on the appointment the president has to address relevant services who would screen the candidate following the Law on Corruption Prevention.

The adviser added that the head of state is interested to make all the decisions and complete all the formalities this week.

As reported, Minister of National Defence Arvydas Anušauskas announced his resignation on 15 March. He claimed that Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė proposed a reshuffle, where an MP would replace him as the next defence minister while he would lead a parliamentary committee instead. Anušauskas rejected the offer.

Šimonytė later stated that the move to replace the defence minister is linked to expectations for the Government to accomplish more and faster in the remaining term of office until October’s parliamentary election.