Inga Ruginienė said on April 10 that next year’s Lithuanian budget allocates 5.38% of GDP to defence. Finance Minister Rimantas Šadžius said the revised draft adds 116.8 million euros in spending, including 101.3 million euros for teachers, researchers and sports coaches.
Saulius Skvernelis on April 7 neither confirmed nor denied talks with the Social Democrats on a new coalition and said he would answer questions in parliament on Tuesday over bribery suspicions. Juozas Olekas declined to guarantee that the current majority with Nemuno Aušra would hold, even after the late-March vote on the Kapčiamiestis military training area passed 102-10. Liberal Movement leaders called the bid to bring charges a blow to the political system.
In Panevėžys, a man drove a found explosive to the county police headquarters on Friday morning, triggering the Shield emergency plan and the evacuation of part of the building. Kaunas prosecutors on April 10 asked the court to sentence Gediminas Filipavičius to 20 years in prison over the kidnapping of a minor and 12 other alleged crimes. In Varėna district, a man caught with contraband cigarettes on April 9 was detained for the 13th time, and fines from earlier cases were never paid. A Russian citizen who was the target of a planned hit in Lithuania has given testimony about the surveillance and the alleged contract killing plot, while prosecutors prepare more precise charges for detained suspects. In another case, a courier delivering a Christmas gift accidentally killed a 7-year-old girl, while parents are pressing for rule changes after failed sleep-deprivation practices in kindergartens were linked to children’s deaths.
In Kėdainiai, Norfa is investing 30 million euros in what is described as one of Europe’s most advanced warehouses. Maxima Group’s profit rose by 54 million euros over the year. The government is preparing a plan to lower costs for drivers, ESO’s chief said a reliable power grid strengthens Lithuania’s appeal to investors, and the rollout of a state data lake is expanding options for public services. In Klaipėda, clean-up work has begun at a long-abandoned site where a new hotel and spa are planned, and Sodra said that if people stop contributing, their accumulated pension funds remain in their account but future growth stops with the payments.
Vilnius Žalgiris fired head coach Rolandas Džiaukštas, with Nerijus Mačiulis taking over on an interim basis. Polish prosecutors indicted the organiser of an assault in Vilnius. New details also emerged about a Lithuanian public figure targeted by killers hired by Russia.