Lithuanian president urges undiminished attention to defense, security amid pandemic

  • 2021-01-18
  • BNS/TBT Staff

VILNIUS – National defense and security must receive undiminished attention during the pandemic and all institutions must make sure they meet the information security requirements, a presidential aide said on Monday. 

Darius Kuliesius, the president's national security advisor, was speaking to reporters after Monday's meeting between President Gitanas Nauseda and Defense Minister Arvydas Anusauskas.

 "A key message from the meeting (...) is that attention to national defense and security cannot diminish during a pandemic or emergency," he said. 

Anusauskas briefed Nauseda on this year's priority areas and plans for the development of national defense, according to the advisor.

"There are areas where a breakthrough is needed, where priority attention is needed," Kuliesius said. "This concerns the development of strategic infrastructure projects, because we have an ambition, a desire to increase Lithuania's security through the highest possible permanent presence of foreign forces."  

"For these forces to operate and train here, we need to ensure the rapid, efficient development of our infrastructure projects," he added.

Kuliesius also noted a recent increase in the number of cyber incidents, adding that all institutions must make efforts to ensure their information security. 

"If we compare this year to last year, we were told that the number of cyber incidents had increased by about 25 percent," said. 

Anusauskas said that private businesses should take care of their information security, too.

The National Cyber ??Security Center has informed institutions about what security requirements they must meet, according to the minister

Last month, the National Public Health Center and several other bodies came under an email virus attack.