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20260920 023000 UTC
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[00:00:00] Siratas, murdered Eva and others,
[00:00:04] watch for free on Evert's epic.
[00:00:42] time to know everything.
[00:00:46] It is proposed that Lithuania, Russians and Belarusians should not be able to buy
[00:00:49] real estate properties near strategically important
[00:00:52] infrastructure,
[00:00:54] near military territories, so as not to create additional risks.
[00:00:58] Should the acquisition of property be limited at all? Yes, I
[00:01:02] my, my position
[00:01:03] is principled.
[00:01:07] The United States and Denmark announced an agreement
[00:01:10] on Greenland's security
[00:01:12] control.
[00:01:15] Free electric car charging at municipal stations is ending.
[00:01:19] The Competition Council urges municipalities not to create local
[00:01:23] monopolies when transitioning to paid
[00:01:25] budget. Well, charging. When we don't determine the actual
[00:01:28] cost, so that we continue to encourage the use
[00:01:31] of non-polluting
[00:01:32] transport vehicles.
[00:01:36] A colorful Roma cultural festival in the capital aims
[00:01:39] to combat stereotypes.
[00:01:56] Good evening, I'm Jovita Vitkauskė, thank you for watching.
[00:02:00] The new national sanctions package
[00:02:03] prepared by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs includes restrictions for Russian and Belarusian
[00:02:07] citizens to acquire real estate.
[00:02:10] It is proposed that they should not be able to buy properties near strategically important
[00:02:14] infrastructure. The opposition says this is
[00:02:17] a compromise option, but sanctions could be even
[00:02:20] stricter.
[00:02:23] Russian and Belarusian citizens in Lithuania own about
[00:02:26] 14 real estate properties, mostly
[00:02:30] in big cities and border municipalities. The Ministry of Foreign
[00:02:33] Affairs is initiating changes, proposing to restrict
[00:02:36] the ability of Russians and Belarusians to acquire real
[00:02:39] estate. Such real estate acquisition should be restricted,
[00:02:42] which would be near objects, facilities
[00:02:45] important for national security near military territories, so as
[00:02:49] not to create additional risks for the activities carried out there
[00:02:53] or the functioning of those objects.
[00:02:55] Opposition conservatives say that real estate near
[00:02:59] strategic objects can be exploited for intelligence
[00:03:02] purposes, therefore restrictions are necessary. Should the acquisition of property be restricted
[00:03:06] at all? Yes, my, my
[00:03:09] position is principled, yes, it should be restricted for all citizens of the Russian Federation
[00:03:13] and citizens of the Republic of Belarus to acquire
[00:03:16] real estate in Lithuania, but as a compromise, that it could be
[00:03:20] a ban valid near critical infrastructure is also, in
[00:03:23] my opinion, necessary. Latvia last year
[00:03:26] banned Russian and Belarusian citizens from acquiring real estate
[00:03:30] throughout the country, the ban also applies to companies where citizens
[00:03:34] of these countries hold at least a quarter of the capital or are
[00:03:37] the true beneficiaries. In Latvia, a broader risk was
[00:03:40] assessed, that real estate could become
[00:03:44] a tool of Russian and Belarusian economic, political and other influence.
[00:03:48] And there was talk about possible
[00:03:51] circumvention of sanctions, use of capital to strengthen influence
[00:03:54] and broader hybrid
[00:03:57] risks. In 2022, 24
[00:04:00] real estate properties within 10 kilometers of important infrastructure
[00:04:04] objects in Lithuania were acquired by almost
[00:04:06] 1,900 Russians and over 100 Belarusians, some
[00:04:10] of whom only had temporary residence permits in Lithuania. It's good that
[00:04:13] national security is being taken care of at all, but I'm
[00:04:17] not sure if this is the best way to do it.
[00:04:20] This is, well, first of all,
[00:04:24] let's say, pro-Russian Lithuanian
[00:04:27] citizens probably pose no less
[00:04:30] of a threat if they acquire that property near one or
[00:04:33] another strategically important object. The ministry's
[00:04:36] expanded sanctions also stipulate that Russian and Belarusian
[00:04:40] citizens in Lithuania may be prohibited from activities in
[00:04:43] education, culture, sports, and entertainment
[00:04:46] sectors. Restrictions would be applied if individuals support
[00:04:49] Russia's war, contribute to occupation or human rights
[00:04:53] violations, and pose a threat to democracy. We believe that it is
[00:04:56] necessary to detail, not just evaluate by fact,
[00:04:59] that someone performed or
[00:05:03] engaged in other artistic activities in Russia or
[00:05:06] Belarus or occupied territories, but there should also be other
[00:05:10] factors, the same periodicity, scale, influence, overall
[00:05:13] propaganda message. Conservatives say that temporary permits
[00:05:16] should also not be issued to Belarusians who come to Lithuania
[00:05:19] to work. The numbers of Belarusian citizens here in Lithuania, with temporary permits, who
[00:05:23] regularly return to Belarus to visit
[00:05:26] relatives, or perhaps to handle some other matters, which means they
[00:05:30] become potential objects of Belarusian intelligence services
[00:05:33] operating there. Well, they are a problem in a counterintelligence
[00:05:37] sense. Columnist Marius Laurinavičius says
[00:05:40] it would be enough to limit how often Belarusians return to their homeland
[00:05:43] and emphasizes that although the proposals strengthen national security, the government
[00:05:47] lacks a systemic approach to security problems. Sometimes
[00:05:50] it seems that without that systemic approach, it's
[00:05:53] more of a show for voters,
[00:05:56] a desire to show something, not
[00:06:00] to fundamentally solve national security problems.
[00:06:03] Recently, 22 Belarusians working in a technology
[00:06:07] company in Lithuania were declared a threat to national security, and their
[00:06:10] residence permits in Lithuania were revoked.
[00:06:14] "Denmark and Greenland say that together with the United States
[00:06:18] they have reached an agreement on Greenland, and it will not violate its
[00:06:21] sovereignty. The content of the agreement is unclear for now,
[00:06:25] but Donald Trump stated that under it, Washington will be able
[00:06:28] to provide military bases on the island indefinitely or without
[00:06:31] restrictions, and America's rivals will not be able to
[00:06:35] transfer forces or invest in sensitive projects without its
[00:06:38] consent. The agreement was welcomed by NATO today."
[00:06:45] Signs that the crisis that has been ongoing since the beginning of the year is moving
[00:06:48] atom Gosling this week were not alone, but
[00:06:52] few dared to speculate how it would end, if it would end.
[00:06:55] Even now, when Donald Trump confirmed
[00:06:59] the agreement, distrust prevails among
[00:07:01] critics.
[00:07:04] I will believe it only when I see it, it sounds absurd and unlikely, I think he
[00:07:08] is just blowing smoke, as always. But for Greenlanders
[00:07:11] exhausted by worry, commotion and media attention,
[00:07:14] it is a sign that the crisis is coming to an end. Negotiations between Americans, Danes and
[00:07:18] Greenlanders lasted eight months.
[00:07:22] It took a long time, there was a lot of noise in the media, the work lasted from
[00:07:25] January, I'm glad that finally there will be a result, it's
[00:07:28] high time. Trump, who threatened to claim
[00:07:31] Greenland, even by force if necessary,
[00:07:35] calls the agreement a dream come true, because, as
[00:07:38] he replies, by signing it, America will forever acquire
[00:07:42] complete freedom to do what it has planned
[00:07:45] to ensure its own and the island's security. What exactly this means and whether this
[00:07:49] freedom to do what is necessary will have limits is unclear, but
[00:07:53] both the Danish and Greenlandic governments have stated that the essential condition,
[00:07:56] sovereignty, will not be violated.
[00:08:00] I hope peace will come, for us it was an insecure
[00:08:03] period. As details are not public, it is
[00:08:06] unclear how much this agreement, which prohibits America's rivals
[00:08:10] from building bases on the island and without its
[00:08:12] permission to invest in resource projects, will differ from
[00:08:15] the previous one, which, after all, granted broad
[00:08:18] rights. At one point, they had
[00:08:22] 17 military facilities in Greenland, they left one. We did not
[00:08:25] ask for it, they did it themselves. And whatever
[00:08:29] the result, for Denmark it means
[00:08:31] a breather. Essentially, nothing has changed, everyone
[00:08:35] is happy, even Trump thinks he won a great victory.
[00:08:39] Denmark said from the very beginning that a discussion about Americans.
[00:08:46] I think the United States will get what it could have gotten at any time, if only it had politely
[00:08:49] asked, so in that sense, everything will be fine.
[00:08:53] Threats to annex territory belonging to a NATO
[00:08:56] ally could have been the factor that would have completely
[00:09:00] crushed the alliance's unity. Today,
[00:09:02] after announcing the agreement, the head of NATO's Military Committee does
[00:09:06] not comment on its content. This is an agreement, we welcome it very much, we
[00:09:10] will not elaborate on this topic.
[00:09:12] is a heightened alert zone, called the Arctic Sentinel. Denmark
[00:09:16] conducts exercises and, of course, we cooperate with the United States
[00:09:19] military. From this NATO perspective, we will continue
[00:09:22] our cooperation further. So perhaps the greatest
[00:09:26] expectation is that Trump will withdraw from claiming
[00:09:30] territory. Although observers say it's not time
[00:09:33] for fanfare yet. I wouldn't pop champagne yet, there's no
[00:09:37] agreement until it's signed, but I also think we should
[00:09:40] relax a bit and wait some more.
[00:09:43] The expectation of Denmark and Greenland is that the agreement will be sealed
[00:09:47] next
[00:09:48] week.
[00:09:51] About the agreement, we are now talking with LRT correspondent in Washington
[00:09:55] Augustinas Šemelis. Good evening, Augustinas, how is this American agreement on
[00:09:59] Greenland viewed in the United States?
[00:10:00] Grenlandijos?
[00:10:03] Hello Jovita, well, it depends on whether you ask Donald Trump's allies or
[00:10:07] Donald Trump's critics? If you ask Donald Trump's allies, they
[00:10:11] call this American agreement with Denmark a historical, strategic achievement
[00:10:15] for the United States, because, according to Donald Trump, this agreement
[00:10:19] ensures unlimited military access for the United
[00:10:22] States to Greenland and also prevents America's opponents
[00:10:26] from military presence, military presence in Greenland and from
[00:10:29] investing in sensitive sectors of Greenland's economy. However,
[00:10:33] if you listen to Donald Trump's critics, they raise
[00:10:37] the question of how much this agreement actually differs from
[00:10:40] the 1951
[00:10:43] United States and Kingdom of Denmark agreement, which
[00:10:46] was in force until now and had already secured
[00:10:49] practically unlimited military access for the United States
[00:10:53] to Greenland, and those Donald Trump's critics then raise the question: was
[00:10:57] it really worth quarreling with the Kingdom of Denmark, was it really worth
[00:11:00] quarreling with Europe, was it really worth America starting
[00:11:04] a, at least rhetorical precedent, that the United States
[00:11:07] can threaten its allies with force to
[00:11:10] take territory from them, if the outcome of all this is
[00:11:14] a compromise agreement, which Washington could probably very easily
[00:11:18] negotiate with Copenhagen without this conflict,
[00:11:21] however, both sides agree that this is
[00:11:25] good news for the transatlantic community,
[00:11:28] because it is an obvious de-escalation, because Donald
[00:11:32] Trump himself, yesterday announcing this agreement on Truth Social, said that America
[00:11:35] essentially no longer has claims against Denmark and apparently
[00:11:39] will no longer threaten. Jovita. Another
[00:11:42] piece of news is that Donald Trump has today banned three
[00:11:45] large media outlets he dislikes, television CNN, Politico and
[00:11:49] MSNBC from working at the White
[00:11:52] House, and Trump accuses them of spreading
[00:11:55] fake news. How has this decision been received in America, especially since
[00:11:59] the country's freedom of the press is ensured by the first amendment of the Constitution?
[00:12:02] pataisa.
[00:12:05] Yes, Jovita, indeed, this story is the biggest and most
[00:12:09] important today in the United States. Donald Trump
[00:12:12] announced that news yesterday at the White House, and yesterday it
[00:12:16] was just words. I was here yesterday at the White House observing
[00:12:19] the CNN journalists working here, and I am currently in the White House courtyard
[00:12:23] and today these words have turned into actions. As of today,
[00:12:26] CNN, MSNBC and Politico, which is read
[00:12:30] on both sides of the Atlantic as a political news outlet,
[00:12:33] were not allowed into the White House courtyard today, their
[00:12:37] White House accreditations were deactivated, and
[00:12:40] this story is so big in the United States precisely because of what you
[00:12:44] mentioned, the United States Constitution and
[00:12:47] its first amendment have for two and a half centuries
[00:12:51] guaranteed freedom of speech, and it was universally understood
[00:12:55] that freedom of speech means that no matter what
[00:12:57] tone media outlets use when talking about the American
[00:13:01] administration's policy, they all have, should have, equal
[00:13:05] access to the White House and other American government
[00:13:07] institutions. We can listen to what the President himself said yesterday about this.
[00:13:11] prezidentas.
[00:13:15] Every president swears to defend the Constitution, which includes
[00:13:18] the First Amendment, how do you justify this
[00:13:21] ban?
[00:13:23] They are fake news. Yes, I'm tired of reading and seeing
[00:13:27] fake news, when you watch CNN, it's
[00:13:29] lies. Are you trying to intimidate the media
[00:13:33] so they don't do their
[00:13:34] job?
[00:13:38] No, no, no, I don't like unfair media, like
[00:13:41] you, I think you're terrible, something is wrong with
[00:13:44] a country that allows people to write knowingly negative
[00:13:47] stories. If they want to write, fine, but I don't have to
[00:13:51] let them into my, into the nation's home.
[00:13:59] "We can be sure that this story will end up in court, and
[00:14:02] it may be that these statements by Donald Trump, which you just heard,
[00:14:06] will greatly harm the administration in court, because Donald Trump doesn't even try
[00:14:10] to find legal arguments for this ban,
[00:14:13] which probably don't exist, but simply says that these media
[00:14:16] outlets are being banned because of their negative stories. Jovita,
[00:14:20] thank you, Augustinas Šemelis, live from the White House courtyard, where
[00:14:24] since today, reporters from three
[00:14:27] media outlets cannot work. We continue
[00:14:30] Panorama.
[00:14:32] As Russians continue air attacks against Ukraine, seeking to protect
[00:14:36] its airspace, neighboring Poland this morning briefly scrambled fighter jets
[00:14:39] and activated air defense systems and airspace
[00:14:43] monitoring radars. The preventive operation lasted more than
[00:14:46] an hour and, having found no airspace violations, was suspended
[00:14:50] before noon. Donald Tusk warned this week that
[00:14:54] to test NATO's unity, in the coming weeks
[00:14:57] and months, Russia might try to direct drones or missiles
[00:15:01] to Eastern flank countries. In the past week, when shelling
[00:15:04] Ukraine, Moscow targeted areas close to the border, which led to air
[00:15:08] raid sirens being activated in Polish regions bordering Ukraine,
[00:15:11] and fighter jets taking off.
[00:15:13] naikintuvai.
[00:15:17] Police have launched a pre-trial investigation into hooliganism regarding a Quran burned
[00:15:20] in Vilnius. The incident was recorded last
[00:15:24] weekend, when it was reported that a Quran was being burned
[00:15:27] on one of the Old Town streets at night. The Quran is
[00:15:30] the main religious book of Islam and the holiest scripture
[00:15:34] of Muslims.
[00:15:38] Free electric vehicle charging at municipal stations
[00:15:41] is ending. In some cities, it is still possible to use this
[00:15:45] benefit, but even here the days of free charging are
[00:15:48] numbered. The Competition Council emphasized
[00:15:51] that when municipalities transition to paid charging,
[00:15:55] it is important not to create local monopolies, as this could raise prices for
[00:15:58] drivers. I'll sit for another 10 minutes and
[00:16:02] then I'm off. Tomas from Panevėžys charges his electric car every third
[00:16:06] day. There are 12 free charging stations in the city,
[00:16:09] which the man always tries to use as much as possible,
[00:16:13] as much as possible, when having lunch somewhere in the city, while they are
[00:16:16] still available, it's very convenient, they could even leave it,
[00:16:19] but they won't, the municipality is already looking for someone to transfer the charging
[00:16:23] stations to, they will become paid, most of them
[00:16:26] were installed using European Union funds, the requirement
[00:16:29] not to charge for at least five years.
[00:16:33] In Pasvalys, the five-year term
[00:16:37] expired this year. During this period, the use of charging stations
[00:16:40] increased tenfold, and expenses for the municipality
[00:16:43] also increased. In the first years, maintaining such a station
[00:16:47] cost only €200, last year €6,000.
[00:16:50] Everything costs money, and eventually
[00:16:53] those €6,000 were for electricity for the sports school, because it was connected to the sports
[00:16:57] school. Of course, the municipality compensated it from the municipal
[00:17:02] compared to a €52 million
[00:17:05] budget, of course it's not a lot. But 100 times 100 adds
[00:17:09] up, maybe it's better to do a piece of sidewalk.
[00:17:11] padaryti.
[00:17:13] Biržai municipality is one of those where you can still charge
[00:17:17] an electric car for free. However,
[00:17:19] the benefit will not last much longer, from November a fixed
[00:17:22] tariff of 20 euro cents per kilowatt
[00:17:25] will be established. Those who drive diesel, gasoline cars, they
[00:17:29] pay for their fuel. So in this case, when that program ended, we
[00:17:32] are also moving towards ensuring that those using
[00:17:36] non-polluting transport also pay for their travel
[00:17:39] expenses at a realistically calculated cost, so that we
[00:17:43] continue to encourage the use of non-polluting transport
[00:17:47] vehicles. According to the Chairwoman of the Competition Council,
[00:17:50] the era of free electric vehicle charging in Lithuania has ended,
[00:17:53] and now another stage begins, and according to her,
[00:17:57] municipalities should now hand over charging stations to the market
[00:18:00] and ensure competition. We recommended that
[00:18:04] municipalities perhaps consider dividing
[00:18:07] the object of the tender into separate parts,
[00:18:11] so that a local monopoly does not form,
[00:18:14] because that has already happened, some
[00:18:17] countries that started this process earlier are already facing problems, we can learn from these mistakes and
[00:18:21] not repeat them. The Competition Council emphasized that improperly
[00:18:24] organized tenders can create conditions for one or
[00:18:27] several large players to occupy the entire market, which
[00:18:31] would result in higher prices and poorer service
[00:18:35] quality for consumers.
[00:18:40] Some residents of Kaunas district are concerned about the planned
[00:18:43] expansion of the Kaunas Free Economic Zone. People are already
[00:18:47] complaining about pollution and noise. The Kaunas
[00:18:50] district municipality disagrees if several hundred hectares of forest
[00:18:54] were to be cut down. According to the head of the Free Economic Zone,
[00:18:57] it's too early to worry, plots needed for expansion are still
[00:19:00] being sought. Here they plan to do,
[00:19:03] that the elder shows where the Kaunas Free Economic
[00:19:07] Zone might expand. This small triangle goes along
[00:19:11] the A1 road, it's about 67.2
[00:19:13] hectares. The Free Economic Zone, and now in the neighborhood
[00:19:17] of Ramučiai residents, the elder says there were promises for protective
[00:19:20] zones, which apparently have not been kept. You can't imagine how many
[00:19:24] companies come here. It's not just the FEZ, there are also non-FEZ
[00:19:27] territories. Polluting, construction
[00:19:30] waste sorting and planning to sort large
[00:19:33] quantities, secondary packaging even to this level
[00:19:37] here. Here somewhere a warehouse
[00:19:40] working around the clock logistics, so when they load goods, that thud thud thud thud, if
[00:19:44] the wind is in that direction, in the middle of Ramučiai you can hear it perfectly, and here
[00:19:47] Sergeičiukai village, also in the neighborhood of the free economic
[00:19:50] zone, expansion for residents is planned here as well,
[00:19:54] the elder says it hurts her heart for the ambition to cut about 200
[00:19:57] hectares of forest, so this whole green zone they want to cut down
[00:20:01] and eliminate, actually we are then imprisoned
[00:20:04] in the FEZ, although actually not... how
[00:20:07] to say, we didn't come to the FEZ, but the FEZ
[00:20:11] came to us, actually we settled here first, they allowed us
[00:20:14] to build and create our homes. Anxiety in Neveroniai
[00:20:18] town too, on the other side of the forest. The residents' representative says that trees have already
[00:20:22] been cut here for the planned Rail Baltica railway
[00:20:25] section. We are standing here in the place where, according to the environmental
[00:20:29] impact assessment, it is a red zone, because here
[00:20:32] both the street and the railway
[00:20:35] lines are already present. All noise limits have been
[00:20:39] exceeded, and now the FEZ territory with
[00:20:42] all its infrastructure is getting closer. Currently,
[00:20:45] the territory of the Kaunas Free Economic Zone is more than 500
[00:20:48] hectares. An law adopted three years ago stipulated
[00:20:52] that a similar amount should be added, the government's draft resolution
[00:20:55] now proposes to add a part, more than 300 hectares
[00:20:59] of state land, the government is currently
[00:21:02] looking for territories that could be included
[00:21:06] in the Kaunas FEZ, so today
[00:21:10] we cannot say how much forest will be cut, nor if any
[00:21:13] forest will be cut at all, when
[00:21:17] the territories are determined by government resolutions, but
[00:21:20] there will be still quite long
[00:21:23] processes. According to the Vice-Mayor of Kaunas district,
[00:21:26] the municipality does not support plans to cut down forests,
[00:21:30] our word is decisive in this, because I
[00:21:33] see that indeed both the community and
[00:21:36] the Ministry of Environment, as far as I've seen, have opposed such a
[00:21:40] decision, both foresters also expressed their opinion,
[00:21:44] so I see that they will be forced to look for other
[00:21:47] territories in order for the project to continue. It
[00:21:51] must be where it was originally, that is, in the Kaunas
[00:21:54] region, the closer to the current
[00:21:56] Kaunas FEZ territory, the more
[00:22:00] successful it will be. The Ministry of Economy and Renovation
[00:22:03] estimates that by expanding the territory to more than 100 hectares by
[00:22:07] 2039, almost 17,000 jobs
[00:22:10] would be created, and the state budget would be supplemented by more than
[00:22:14] four billion euros in
[00:22:15] taxes.
[00:22:19] In Vilnius. The annual international Roma culture festival,
[00:22:22] this year already the tenth. The theatrical procession features
[00:22:26] not only Roma song and dance groups from various countries, but also bikers
[00:22:30] accompanying them. The event, which is one of
[00:22:32] the most colorful accents of this year's Nations' Fair, aims to combat
[00:22:36] stereotypes and invites people to get to know each other.
[00:22:40] The head of the Lithuanian Roma community says this promotes dialogue with
[00:22:44] those around them. The Roma festival is included in Lithuania's
[00:22:47] intangible cultural heritage value.
[00:22:52] We have to meet, get to know
[00:22:55] each other and not be afraid of each other, because we are all people
[00:22:59] and we all have to talk and communicate and create
[00:23:03] our Lithuania, when we know a person,
[00:23:06] then he looks different to us, so our
[00:23:10] task is exactly that, that we have to
[00:23:14] change those stereotypes, that people, people always
[00:23:17] want to be with Roma, I don't know why. "But they are always
[00:23:21] interested in our nation, they sing, not one Lithuanian
[00:23:24] song is sung, right, the so-called
[00:23:27] Gypsy, yes, there was and there is nothing wrong with that
[00:23:31] actually, but now I see that there are
[00:23:35] huge changes, and that is very
[00:27:19] weather forecast, have a pleasant
[00:27:21] evening.
[00:27:30] The closest night will be cloudy... with clearings in many places, mostly
[00:27:34] in northwestern Lithuania, it will rain briefly, it will be about
[00:27:37] 11-16 degrees Celsius. Tomorrow the day
[00:27:40] will be cloudy with clearings, in many places it will rain, short
[00:27:44] showers will prevail, in some places it will rain heavily with possible thunderstorms. The day
[00:27:47] will warm up to 16-21 degrees. On Monday,
[00:27:51] intermittent rain, at night in some places heavy, with possible thunderstorms.
[00:27:55] Temperature at night 9-14, during the day
[00:27:58] 13-18 degrees Celsius. On Tuesday night,
[00:28:02] in some places. During the day, it will rain briefly in many places, temperature at night
[00:28:05] 5-10, on the coast 11-13,
[00:28:08] during the day 14-19 degrees Celsius.