LRT English Newsletter – July 3, 2026.
Lithuania’s prime minister-designate, Mindaugas Sinkevičius, has been busy gathering his new cabinet. While some were routine announcements, a few choices for ministers have raised eyebrows across the political establishment (and the media).
Namely, Sinkevičius has nominated Martynas Katelynas to lead the Interior Ministry. President Gitanas Nausėda also approved the candidate, saying their views on migration matched. Now, this is where it gets weird. Katelynas started his political career with the far-right National Alliance and previously called for “lethal means” to stop migrants from crossing the border. On a very minor side note, he previously compared Lithuania’s police officers with the Belarusian OMON that tortured and killed anti-regime protesters. If confirmed, he will oversee the police.CHINA QUESTION – AGAINThere have been developments on the China front, with a senior MP saying Beijing was open to normalising diplomatic relations. The price might be steep, however. One coalition partner said the name of the Taiwanese office in Vilnius could be renamed. To get a larger perspective, our colleague analysed the experience of other countries in resetting their China relations.NEW PARTYIgnas Vėgėlė announced this week that he would be creating a new party, Piliečių Lietuva (Citizens’ Lithuania, or Lithuania for Citizens). He said it would be a genuine centre-right party, taking a stab at the Homeland Union conservatives who are, he seems to suggest, too liberal. The lawyer rose to political prominence during the Covid pandemic by speaking out against quarantine restrictions and mandatory vaccination, and ran semi-successfully in the 2024 presidential election (he finished third). It looks like Nemunas Dawn will have a contender for the country’s protest votes.CORRUPTION AND ALLEGED CORRUPTIONTwo soldiers and five civilians were charged with taking bribes to get people off the hook from military conscription. The Armed Forces picked at the positives in the affair, saying that reports about the wrongdoing came from within the military itself.
