Lithuanian-Austrian commission achieves no results

VILNIUS - Last week, the joint commission of Lithuania and Austria had its second and last meeting in Austria to discuss the Mikhail Golovatov incident in the Vienna airport. The commission’s work ended with no results. Participants of the commission agreed that they will keep in touch via emails.

“To this moment, the Lithuanian experts received no explanation which would enable the understanding of what kind of data was lacking in Austria. It remains unclear why Golovatov was immediately sent back [to Russia] if the Austrian side thought that Golovatov should not have been detained,” Lithuanian Justice Minister Remigijus Simasius said at his press conference in the Lithuanian Justice Ministry on Sept. 9.

Mikhail Golovatov, a 62-year old Russian citizen, was detained on arrival from Moscow at the Vienna airport on July 14 on a European arrest warrant issued by the Lithuanian authorities. He was a commander of the elite KGB group Alpha back in January 1991. Alpha was the main storming force of the Soviet army during the Soviet aggression on independent Lithuania in January of 1991, when 14 unarmed civilians were killed and some 1,000 injured during the Soviet storming of the  TV center and TV tower in Vilnius.

Golovatov planned to head to the Austrian town of Ramsau, to a training camp for skiers, biathletes and Nordic combined skiers, because he is now president of the Moscow Cross-Country Skiing Federation and vice president of the Russian Cross-Country Skiing Federation. However, he was detained on his arrival in Austria. After several hours detention he was allowed to fly back to Moscow. This action provoked protest demonstrations in Vilnius. The Lithuanian government recalled its ambassador from Vienna for “consultations” and he did not return from Vilnius until now.
The Austrian side of the joint Lithuanian-Austrian commission admitted that consultations with the authorities of Russia exceeded the usual level during such detentions.

Viviane Reding, vice-president of the European Commission and EU commissioner responsible for justice, fundamental rights and citizenship, said that the scandal will be discussed in the Council of the EU, i.e. at the meeting of heads of all EU member states.

“Lithuania and other Baltic countries will seek that the Austrian behavior would be evaluated by our colleagues in the EU, the USA and Canada,” Emanuelis Zingeris, head of the Lithuanian parliament’s foreign affairs committee, said on Sept. 9.