Google Cloud Speech-to-Text API (Chirp) + Gemini 2.5 Flash Non-Thinking. Treat it as a searchable index of what was broadcast, not a quotation record.
00:00:01"World boxing champion, facing the most important
00:00:05fight of his life.
00:00:07A story about an old friendship and new
00:00:11enemies. Creed
00:00:133. Friday,
00:00:1622.15, RNRT television.
00:02:02we rose, well,
00:06:58After about a year or so, when
00:07:01they started recruiting Sąjūdis volunteers,
00:07:05I went and signed up
00:07:09for those Sąjūdis volunteers.
00:07:13I was guarding
00:07:16the "spodos" center, or is it called the center?
00:07:20It seems so. It was such
00:07:23a
00:07:26bore to be in corridors without windows,
00:07:30but somehow
00:07:33I contributed
00:07:34a little.
00:08:18Passos and Tritos somehow
00:08:21I understood that something had to be done, because
00:08:25if we do nothing, no one will do it for us, as
00:08:29they say, "bautai" won't do it for us, and
00:08:33who else but
00:09:43And we would go together to the
00:09:46TV tower to patrol
00:09:50and guard.
00:09:52And she trusted me, she said, "I work at the customs," and
00:09:56showed her service
00:09:58ID.
00:10:01That ID was extraordinary, one
00:10:04card and laminated.
00:10:08And we, I had never seen
00:10:11such a laminated ID. She said
00:10:14it was very durable. A soldier took it,
00:10:17from a colleague, and stomped on it with his boots,
00:10:21stomped, tore, and couldn't tear it up.
00:10:27"Oh, this is serious," I thought ironically, because
00:10:30they issued such an ID that couldn't be
00:10:34torn so quickly. To an uncivilized person,
00:10:38it made a big impression that such a serious
00:10:41organization.
00:10:43I received an invitation as a volunteer
00:10:47to go for
00:10:50an interview for a job at the
00:10:53border. But I,
00:10:56excuse me, didn't quite like the atmosphere.
00:10:59Somehow, when I appeared, it seemed
00:11:03strange.
00:11:05And with that girl, that
00:11:09acquaintance, we agreed that I would
00:11:12go and submit an application to
00:11:15that customs. What is that
00:11:19customs, why customs? It's not entirely clear to me, but I know that I need
00:11:23to work at the border. But their
00:11:26IDs were so
00:11:28civilized.
00:11:31And
00:11:34that was the decision. I went
00:11:37about
00:11:39two weeks after January 13th,
00:11:43with my
00:11:45application
00:11:47I went. Tomas Šernas came to me in early
00:11:50February. It was
00:11:54a very interesting conversation with him.
00:11:57He was an interesting person, he was our
00:12:01philosopher. And he always had so many ideas, such
00:12:05profound thoughts about everything. And then
00:12:08we realized that he was a deeply
00:12:11religious person, because he always somehow
00:12:15went to heaven and to God. And we were all such "bambizai,"
00:12:19so unaccustomed to those
00:12:22customs. We listened to him. "He explained
00:12:26all those truths very
00:12:29interestingly. In the evening, when traffic
00:12:33decreased, we would go out into the yard. Everyone, of course, smoked, so
00:12:36after a cigarette, Tomas, we all listened. It was interesting.
00:12:40So, that's how my shift
00:12:43was. I remember that
00:12:46day, February 23rd, Soviet Army
00:12:50Day.
00:12:52And I ended up
00:12:56there for the first time. I remember it
00:12:59well. A booth, a bullet-ridden
00:13:03flag hanging by the
00:13:06electricity pole. A telephone.
00:13:09You couldn't call Vilnius, only through the farm.
00:13:13A sofa, a table, another
00:13:16table, mattresses
00:13:20lying around, and that's it.
00:13:24And a crowd of people
00:13:26dressed in various ways, with
00:13:29armbands.
00:13:32Lithuanian customs.
00:13:35Revolutionary
00:13:38mood.
00:13:39So, that post had been
00:13:43attacked once, and
00:13:47shot at.
00:13:51But it wasn't burned then.
00:15:27there to sign and
00:15:31stamp and back again.
00:15:33That's how it was.
00:15:37It would get very hot, especially
00:15:40when passing cars were checked by Soviet officials,
00:15:43because we couldn't arrest them, say, and
00:15:46kick them out. But we would station our
00:15:49officials nearby at a certain
00:15:52small distance. And those who travel
00:15:55from the Soviet Union to Lithuania,
00:15:59or from Lithuania, we already consider
00:16:02that as going from Lithuania to somewhere
00:16:06else. That "somewhere else" where can it be? The Soviet Union? That's not
00:16:09Lithuania anymore. From Lithuania, they go
00:16:12there. They must be checked. What are they
00:16:15carrying? Sometimes they carry very valuable things, and there is
00:16:19an order to take out, take out, take out from Lithuania what is
00:16:22most valuable. We know that, we try
00:16:26to catch them, we try to block them, to save our
00:16:29property, which the Soviets stole simply
00:16:33because they have weapons and can do it
00:16:36with impunity." "And we
00:16:39start to restrict, we stop them,
00:16:42meaning they pass their posts and
00:16:45then they run into our posts. Now explain what
00:16:49you are carrying here and why. A Lithuanian
00:16:52post stands there. Well, they are terribly
00:16:55angry. They feel
00:16:59provoked, offended. But from our
00:17:02side, it's the most normal state
00:17:05behavior. We defend
00:17:09we control. First of all, we control who is going where,
00:17:12why. Show
00:17:13your documents.
00:17:16And if you're driving with a rifle and say, "I won't show them," well, then you're
00:17:20driving like a terrorist. You're driving with
00:17:22a rifle.
00:17:25Or you are also
00:17:27maneuvering,
00:17:30you show something partially, you somehow get away with it,
00:17:34but crossing the border is already controlled.
00:17:38We are "bautarusai," they didn't quite understand what
00:17:41it was. They understood that it was Sąjūdis, they called us Sąjūdis.
00:17:45And
00:17:49well, some changes. They used to
00:17:52travel back and forth, back and forth every day,
00:17:56and that annoyed them, visiting relatives or maybe to another
00:18:00village or something similar.
00:18:03So they had enough roads where they could
00:18:06travel without... "without any inspection.
00:18:09It was a symbolic customs,
00:18:12practically. When they passed, there were many
00:18:16negative comments, all sorts of things.
00:18:20They would call us all sorts of names
00:18:23and, in short, that we wouldn't last long here,
00:18:27and so on. That everything was fine here,
00:18:31and that we were making things up. In short, but
00:18:35I personally truly...
00:18:39"heard", but those were abstract, general comments.
00:18:41Many were dissatisfied that, in short,
00:18:45Lithuania was free and
00:18:48visible. They needed there to be some conflict,
00:18:52but
00:18:55we were unarmed. Only the ARO men
00:18:59had automatic weapons and
00:19:02traffic police. And we were
00:19:05like
00:19:07poor little things. That's important, because
00:19:11that's our civilizational
00:19:13weapon:
00:19:18not to create tension where it can be
00:19:21avoided,
00:19:24to reduce anger or some
00:19:28bad word. Where you politely,
00:19:31politely, politely and
00:19:34you knock out, so to speak, the bad mood
00:19:38of people who stop and wait
00:19:41for Sąjūdis blows, I don't know what they're waiting for, what they
00:19:44imagine. And when it's polite, polite,
00:19:48Lithuanian customs, please, show us
00:19:50what, then
00:19:54it's
00:19:56calmer and easier for yourself.
00:20:00That was the order: you work for a day,
00:20:02from eight in the morning until eight
00:20:05in the morning, and three days off, then work a day again, then
00:20:09three days off. That was the schedule set by the customs department
00:20:13leadership. And border guards would
00:20:16work from 8 in the morning until 6 in the evening. They weren't
00:20:20there at night. And we worked like that, and we joked, why, we say,
00:20:23the service that is supposed to protect us, it leaves, and we have to stay
00:20:27here. That's why we had this idea that we would
00:20:30episodically go out to work at night, episodically. We don't have to
00:20:34be there constantly all night in the area. But
00:20:40it works, it doesn't work. And so that there wouldn't be talk that they work, then lock themselves up and sleep again.
00:20:44Here we work at night. Well, so that such
00:20:47a mindset about that
00:20:51is formed. At that time, there were no established political
00:20:54borders of Lithuania. We only guarded the economic border
00:20:57of Lithuania. We didn't know where the real border was,
00:21:00really. There was a film
00:21:02called
00:21:05"The Post," "Dawn," I forgot what it's called. It's a good film, but
00:21:08there were shots
00:21:10like
00:21:13once, when customs officers
00:21:16are sitting, talking in some dialect,
00:21:20and slowly slowly eating
00:21:23some sandwiches
00:21:27on a bench.
00:21:30"If only I had honey.
00:21:34Well, next time I'll bring
00:21:36it. You see, Stasiukas is always messing around,
00:21:40either with honey or with cards.
00:21:43Oh, dear.
00:21:52"Okay, we're sitting." Well, it wasn't like that. Maybe
00:21:56it doesn't seem that dynamic,
00:21:58that trailer and
00:22:01those sandwiches, that
00:22:04talking like in a village. No, there was no
00:22:07time to eat. Traffic was constant,
00:22:11all the time, one thing or another,
00:22:14either trucks or something
00:22:18else was driving there." "It was always
00:22:22work with a passenger car. And outside, we didn't
00:22:26eat except sometimes.
00:22:28And not so
00:22:31slowly, telling anecdotes,
00:22:33as someone said. He said, "It feels
00:22:37like you only ate pancakes and smoked there." So,
00:22:40in reality, it wasn't like that. There was work
00:22:43too. Well, we,
00:22:47as they say, started from scratch, and..."
00:22:50"Step by step
00:22:52we built, we built that customs, we built
00:22:55Lithuania, I could even
00:22:57say that. There were
00:23:01officials of various affiliations
00:23:05who stood at the border and guarded it. There were too
00:23:08few of them, we lacked them, but they were there, and they
00:23:12knew they were going into mortal danger, because they
00:23:16were told that they would be shot, they would be beaten,
00:23:20they would be burned, but they still went. They were
00:23:23extraordinarily dedicated, patriotically dedicated
00:23:27people who joined the border service.
00:23:31They were true Lithuanian soldiers for
00:23:33Lithuania. No, we will defend our state,
00:23:37precisely, the border is
00:23:38the front.
00:23:41We must withstand. Our
00:23:44post was burned, I think, in May.
00:23:48When
00:23:51it got warmer.
00:23:53I remember when that post
00:23:55was burned,
00:23:58everything was burned, but we continued
00:24:01our function, as if nothing
00:24:04happened.
00:24:07We check vehicles, we check
00:24:10documents. And if we need
00:24:14to clarify something about a decoration,
00:24:16then we take them to the
00:24:20post. Not to the post,
00:24:24but to the shift commander
00:24:27in the forest. People get scared, they go to
00:24:31the forest. There, on a stump, the commander sits, on another
00:24:34stump he signs something,
00:24:37looks at it. So, that
00:24:41was an interesting
00:24:42situation.
00:25:13We had informants who worked in Kaunėliai
00:25:16and so on. They
00:25:21would sometimes report: "An automobile
00:25:23is coming your way, possibly
00:25:27with armed men," and so on. So,
00:25:30then we had a plan to
00:25:33evacuate things,
00:25:36the sofa, documents,
00:25:40things that could burn.
00:25:44And then one or another person
00:25:47would stay there to work.
00:25:51"And we all went into the forest, like ancient
00:25:54Lithuanians when the Crusaders
00:25:57approached. That was the
00:26:01preparation.
00:26:05After that, when the police
00:26:08department was assigned to guard it,
00:26:12we relaxed a little.
00:26:14We didn't go to the forest anymore.
00:26:17It seemed that now it would be
00:26:21safe. A small car arrived
00:26:24from Vilnius.
00:26:28But this Zhiguli
00:26:30car. "And it stands,
00:26:34it stands for a long time.
00:26:37Because you could avoid going to the post if you didn't know
00:26:40the rules. You come, ask, if you have something
00:26:43over the norm. But then,
00:26:47well, what did they carry out? They carried all kinds of cosmetics,
00:26:50sweaters, jeans. Well,
00:26:53in short, such
00:26:57small things. But there were established norms, and
00:27:01in short, if already..." A set amount for how much you can
00:27:05carry. And then if you carried more,
00:27:08in short, you had to
00:27:11pay duty. Or if not,
00:27:15we would write a protocol.
00:27:19And no one came then. The guys from ARO said, "We need to go
00:27:22see why he's standing there so long." Well,
00:27:26when they started walking towards them, they turned around and drove back towards
00:27:29Vilnius. And before that,
00:27:32a Zhiguli also entered the post. I
00:27:36approached the car, said hello,
00:27:39introduced myself, asked him to open the trunk,
00:27:43everything. A Russian speaker was sitting there, and he asked me
00:27:46questions. He never asked such questions. He asked
00:27:50about a Vizir. He lost it. I said,
00:27:53"I don't know, what are you doing
00:27:57here?" In short, that half an hour ago, someone
00:28:01similar to me passed by. "If he came back, would you recognize him or
00:28:05not?" But I didn't answer him. Another
00:28:08car arrived, and I wished him a good journey, and that
00:28:12was the end of it. So, it created an
00:28:16impression that the post was possibly
00:28:19being watched. Such a hypothesis
00:28:22existed, but that such an event,
00:28:26that such a thing would happen,
00:28:29we really didn't even think about
00:28:32it. We didn't think about it. This is also a war
00:28:35of nerves at the same time.
00:28:39Who will endure, who will not be afraid?
00:28:42Lithuania was not afraid, and that's why it was
00:28:46hated.
00:28:50Just as Ukraine is hated now, because
00:28:53it was not afraid. They kill, but it
00:28:56does not surrender. How can
00:28:58a beast tolerate that?
00:29:03"It was just another day, just another
00:29:07day.
00:29:10We worked, worked, worked,
00:29:11worked.
00:29:15Evening.
00:29:19I called my
00:29:22Rasa.
00:29:29And we were on duty all night."
00:29:35So, I don't have such a special memory.
00:29:54My shift was like that, somewhere between
00:29:57four and six.
00:30:01But around five o'clock, it was still
00:30:03dark, and I decided
00:30:07to go to
00:30:09the trailer, to that cafe, to my
00:30:12desk to check
00:30:16the papers
00:30:17that would be needed.
00:30:21I had some tickets in one pocket,
00:30:24money elsewhere elsewhere.
00:30:28So I sat down at the table and...
00:30:34I heard a sharp sound, similar to a pistol
00:30:38shot. That's how the attack began.
00:30:42Raising my head from the table, I saw
00:30:46a person in uniform
00:30:50running from the side of the forest, from the left side,
00:30:52with a long weapon,
00:30:56such a long weapon.