Ethnic minorities

Another series of Russian provocations involving the Baltic states, related to the Ukraine war, makes so-called hybrid war scenario more and more realistic within the region of the Baltic Sea. The incidents that took place so far, such as the Internet existence of “People’s Republic of Vilnius” or t...

The Lithuanian Prosecutor General's Office has opened a pre-trial investigation into suspected crimes against Lithuania's independence, territorial integrity and Constitutional order on a Facebook page, entitled The People's Republic of Vilnius, which seemingly advocates separatism.

Ethnic tension between Lithuania and Poland is a great gift to Vladimir Putin's Russia, says former Polish dissident Adam Michnik, editor-in-chief of the Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza. Michnik was awarded the Freedom Prize 2014 in the Lithuanian Seimas on Tuesday as Lithuania marks the Freedom Defend...

The Ethnic Minority Law would help ensure rights for ethnic minorities in Lithuania, and the parliament should reopen the bill in its spring session, Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevičius says.

Most people in Lithuania take a look at the news at least once a day, a survey shows. They use different channels to get their news from, which might account for varying views they take on events like the Ukraine crisis.

Do Lithuania’s ethnic Russian citizens make integration into the society a priority or do they do quite the opposite, using the privileges of Lithuanian citizenship and leaning nevertheless toward Mother Russia? Is being Russian not just a question of blood and faith but also of identifying with Rus...

On the first working day of 2015, the Migration Board of Vilnius County Police Headquarters received a request from a Lithuanian citizen to have her ethnicity indicated in her passport. The option, which was introduced in a recently adopted law, was exercised by a woman of Ukrainian descent.

The Department of National Minorities, an envisioned structure within the Lithuanian government, will give more decision-making powers to ethnic minorities, Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevičius says, adding that the government made a mistake when it dissolved the department which existed before 2010.

According to Jovita Neliupšienė, Chief Advisor to the President on Foreign Policy, the fact that the court's decision on bilingual street signs was met, and signs contradicting the Law on the State Language were removed, proves that Lithuanian municipalities respect and follow the law.

The issue of bilingual street signs should finally be settled after years of clashes in eastern Lithuania with large Polish-speaking communities. Municipal authorities have been authorized to erect posts with Lithuanian-language street names, after which the central administration will no longer req...

The Lithuanian Government's Strategic Committee will consider establishing an Ethnic Minority Department that would replace the Ethnic Minority and Emigration Department closed in 2010, a government representatives said on Monday.

Is it worth it to frighten the Lithuanian citizens with war? This question is not as simple as it seems, as some citizens are convinced that it is necessary to constantly remind people that Russia is a threat because this is the only factor that can force Lithuanian politicians to act statesmanlike ...

The Lithuanian Prosecutor General's Office has opened an investigation into suspected assistance to a foreign country to act against the Republic of Lithuania.

Vilnius Regional Administrative Court has dropped an administrative case over putting up bilingual Lithuanian-Polish street signs in a number of settlements in Vilnius District after they were removed.

Danuta Wałęsa, the wife of Poland's former President Lech Wałęsa, says she wishes Poland and Lithuania communicated like a family and that she could see bilingual Lithuanian-Polish signs in Lithuania, similar to those in Poland.

Since Russian military incursions into Crimea and Eastern Ukraine to protect Russian “compatriots”, Latvia’s and Lithuania’s Russian and Russian-speaking populations have been much discussed and cited as reasons for concern among the Baltic states and their allies.

Veronika Kristkova, a legal expert of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's (OSCE) office of the high commissioner for national minorities, is visiting Lithuania to collect information for a report on the situation of ethnic minorities in the country.

Lithuania's parliament on Thursday voted down the version of the Ethnic Minority Law, proposed by the conservatives, which would have banned bilingual street and location signs.

Even before it had finished "defending" the rights of Russian compatriots in Ukraine, Moscow spoke about oppression of Russian-speakers in the Baltic states last week, as its Foreign Ministry official demanded that the international community put a stop to alleged russophobia.

Lithuania should be prepared for provocations from Russia, says Benediktas Juodka, chairman of the parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee.