Linking HU-LCD with Kremlin might have been mistake, Lithuanian PM says

VILNIUS – Linking the opposition conservative Homeland Union – Lithuanian Christian Democrats with the Kremlin ahead of a planned teachers' rally might have been a mistake, Lithuanian Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis has acknowledged.

Speaking with the national broadcaster LRT's program Savaite (Week) on Sunday, the Prime Minister was asked when he felt he made a mistake, and the Prime Minister mentioned the incident when the recording of the government's sitting on providing the Center of Registers' data to the media was deleted, saying that it was "a communication slip".

Later asked whether it was also a mistake to "speak loudly about the HU-LCD's ties with the Kremlin", the Prime Minister said "probably".

Ahead of a rally which was held at the time when teachers were on strike, Skvernelis told the parliament that the HU-LCD's "seemed to be implementing the Kremlin's policy", adding that "there are concerns over possible links to Russia's special services," and that "special services" will provide the answers.

At the time, the HU-LCD backed teachers' strike and suggested postponing the adoption of the 2019 state budget because of it.