Lietuva in brief - 2004-10-20

Russian President Vladimir Putin could cancel his long-planned visit to Lithuania due to tenser relations between the two states, the Kauno Diena daily reported Oct. 19. The paper said that Putin's plans have been postponed until spring 2005 or even later in the year. On July 13, one day after his inauguration, President Valdas Adamkus told a news conference that Putin could visit Vilnius before the end of the year.

Two Lithuanian citizens - Vidmantas Varkalis and Gintare Baksaityte - suspected of murdering the Swedish psychologist Helena Bering will be handed over to Sweden to stand trial. A Vilnius court ruled on Oct. 18 that the two suspects should receive Swedish penal prosecution under their European arrest warrants. Bakstaityte, 20, a student at the Academy of Physical Education, and Varkalis, 37, a former taxi driver, were detained in Lithuania in the beginning of October. Neither denied being guilty of the charged murder.

The general nutritional intake of the population has become considerably better over the eight-year period from 1994 to 2002, Kaunas University of Medicine scientists said in a new report. The use of fat and butter for cooking has decreased by four times among men and six times among women during the period under research, while oil has increased as a cooking supplement. According to the research, Lithuanian women tend to have healthier eating habits than men, eating vegetables, fruit and cereal more often and less meat and meat products.

The Kaunas district prosecutor's office has discontinued a smuggling case against the Avia Baltika helicopter repair company after establishing that the staff could not have known that helicopters imported from Bangladesh were modified for military purposes. The prosecutor's office said that a restriction of property rights to Mi-17 helicopters owned by the company had also been lifted.