Society
Basketball player Valančiūnas stopped by police over window film
Basketball star Jonas Valančiūnas had an encounter with the police of Vilnius, Lithuania, who pulled over the tall man to inspect window tinting on his car. […]
Articles by DELFI EN
Culture
Much ado about Eurovision voting: Why Lithuanians gave zero points to Russia
Eurovision, the annual festival of music, kitsch and politics, has once again delivered its due doze of entertainment and controversy from Vienna. The most hotly-debated issue in Lithuania after this year’s song contest was: how come Lithuanians gave zero points to their big neighbour, Russia? […]
Society
Sociologist: Demonising Lithuania’s ethnic minorities is unfair and counter-productive
Russia‘s aggression in Ukraine has exposed Lithuania’s sloppiness in dealing with its own ethnic minorities. Research shows that, amidst media craze about the war in Ukraine, Lithuania’s Russian-speaking citizens get increasingly often depicted as a domestic risk, while their alleged disloyalty to the state is pinpointed as threat to Lithuania’s national security and territorial integrity. […]
Economy
Estonian Air takes over Air Lituanica’s Tallinn route
Estonian national carrier Estonian Air will make 11 round trip flights per week on the Tallinn-Vilnius route starting on Monday instead of the current six round-trip flights per week after Air Lituanica announced of stopping operations. […]
Society
Body of one missing Lithuanian pilot found inside sunken plane
The body of one of the two missing pilots might have been discovered on Thursday night after thorough inspection of the An-2 airplane on the Baltic seafloor, Lithuania’s Ministry of National Defence says. […]
Politics
Lithuanian president snaps at Latvian journalist after being asked about gay rights and basketball
A Latvian journalist has felt the wrath of the Lithuanian president after asking several questions that “have not been agreed upon”. The president insistently, and rather gracelessly, refused to answer questions about gay rights in Lithuania, a supermarket roof collapse in Riga and basketball. […]
Uncategorized
Russia protests over “crucified Putin” installation in Latvia
An art installation in Latvia has angered the Russian government. The Russian embassy presented Riga with a letter of protest over a crucifix that bears remarkable resemblance to Russian President Vladimir Putin. […]
Society
Additional forces join search for missing Lithuanian plane
A search mission that continued throughout the night on Tuesday have so far failed to find any traces of the An-2 airplane that went missing on Saturday afternoon over the Baltic Sea. After two and a half days of search by Lithuania’s air force and navy, assisted by Latvia, the plane and two pilots are yet to be found. […]
Economy
EC recommendations for Lithuania: less tax on labour, more tax on wealth
Lithuania has received recommendations from the European Commission on the most pressing issues in the economy that need addressing. Disturbingly, over 30 percent of people in Lithuania face poverty risk, labour taxes are punishing, while levies on wealth – less detrimental to economic growth – are all but non-existent. Experts say the first steps would be introducing tax on real estate and cars. […]
Foreign affairs
How Lithuania can irritate Russia into retreat
Lithuania is in a perfect position to irritate Russia enough to force Moscow out its current misinformation offensive into the defensive, says J. Michael Waller, an American expert on information warfare. In an interview with DELFI, he shares some tips how even a country as small as Lithuania could push Russia’s buttons. […]
Society
Uncategorized
Internet giants are butchering competitors in Baltic markets, Estonian entrepreneur says
Internet behemoths like Google, Twitter and Facebook are penetrating the Baltic markets. Their goal is not to cut out a piece for themselves – they are here to swallow them in full. […]
Energy
Uncategorized
Russian bikers’ flirtation with Kremlin politics sparks protest from Lithuanian fellows
Global politics is undermining the international solidarity of the biker community. Lithuanian bikers have declared they do not want to see members of the Russian motorcycle club Night Wolves MC, including its leader Alexander Zaldostanov, in their country, because the Russians have trampled on a central principle of the biker movement – stay away from politics. […]
Uncategorized
Estonian PM: Russian-speakers are better protected in Baltics than in Russia
Estonian Prime Minister Taavi Roivas has a pretty clear idea about whether Russia could use force in the Baltic states to “defend” Russian compatriots – absolutely not. He is also clear about the reason for his optimism. The human rights situation in Russia leaves much to be desired, whereas people in the Baltics have no reason to want to be defended. […]
Society
Italian Embassy in Vilnius hit by fallen tree
A tree fell down on the Embassy of Italy in Vilnius at about 1 PM on Tuesday. The rotten tree knocked down metalwork on the embassy’s terrace. […]
Economy
From sailing the Barents Sea to international investor: Game Insight chairman Igor Matsanyuk
Last year businessman and investor Igor Matsanyuk moved his team to Vilnius, Lithuania’s capital city. And at the beginning of the summer he himself moved to Lithuania’s capital. […]
Uncategorized
Putin’s week-long disappearance: checking if Russia can fight two and a half wars at once
Russia is successfully implementing military reform whose purpose is to have the capability to fight two and a half military conflicts concurrently. That is, the Russian armed forces must be able to fight two of any type of military conflict and at the same time participate in a peacekeeping operation alone or together with international forces using only standby military capabilities. […]
Uncategorized
Christopher Walker: Democratic media weakening while Kremlin perfects its propaganda
Over the last decade, Russia has had plenty of time and resources to test and perfect its propaganda machine, which has achieved an unprecedented level of maturity, while Western democratic media has been in decline, says Christopher Walker, executive director of the National Endowment for Democracy’s International Forum for Democratic Studies. […]
Politics
Former PM Kubilius will not seek re-election as conservative party leader
Andrius Kubilius, former Lithuanian prime minister and current leader of the conservative Homeland Union–Lithuanian Christian Democrats announced on Monday he would not be seeking re-election as his party’s leader. […]