24 July 2026

Lithuania on Friday handed Russia a protest note over attacks on Ukraine. Vilnius prosecutors also opened a pre-trial espionage investigation and charged a Lithuanian citizen who investigators say used Telegram to gather information on military sites, equipment movements at Vilnius airport and an army battalion.

LRT added fresh detail on another Russia-linked case, reporting that 2020 Russian ministry documents show official coordination of the Moscow House project in Vilnius and mention Darius Poderskis. The investigation says the Vilnius project was tied to a mirror development in central Moscow leased by the Lithuanian side, and that internal Russian funding disputes also helped stall it. U.S. military representatives were in Siauliai on Friday to discuss crisis readiness and civil-military coordination. The visit came five days after Lithuania opened a new military town there, and after the armed forces stepped up drills to protect critical infrastructure and speed troop and equipment movements.

Police detained a man near Vilnius airport after he flew a drone in a prohibited zone and said he was only inspecting a roof. In similar cases near the capital's airport, pilots have been detained within minutes and drones seized for administrative proceedings. Lithuania is also still processing payouts to savers who opted out of the second pension pillar, with the central bank saying the first withdrawal wave equalled 3% of GDP and 72% of the money was still in bank accounts in April. On defence funding, Lithuania is relying for now on EU SAFE money already approved and on its national budget, after receiving an initial 956.3 million euro payment from a 6.4 billion euro allocation.

Litgrid said Lithuania will need 3 GW of new power-system flexibility capacity by 2035. Farmers have kept pressure on the government over diesel supplies during the harvest, while business coverage remains focused on the bankruptcy of Nord Robotics despite earlier EU investment support.

The International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor was dismissed after sexual harassment allegations. At Kaunas Clinics, a nurse suffered a broken jaw in an attack.