VILNIUS - A new batch of KGB documents recently leaked to the public has heated up the political scene once again as they show that Foreign Minister Antanas Valionis and head of State Security Department, Arvydas Pocius, were enlisted as part of the Soviet security reserve apparatus during the communist era.
According to the information in the files, Valionis signed up for the KGB reserve in 1981 and attended a KGB-arranged training program the following year. In the case of war, he would have been sent to a Kaliningrad military base to work as an investigator.
Pocius was enlisted as a reserve officer in 1989, although he has claimed he had never given permission to be enlisted, nor was he asked to do so.
The foreign minister did not deny the fact that 24 years ago he had agreed to be enlisted in the KGB reserve, all the while shrugging off any collaboration with the Soviet institution. "I was not intending to hide the [revealed information], nor was I proud of it. The case existed. Absolutely nothing was hidden. However, I did not think it was meaningful to talk about it or to publicize it," said Valionis.
The minister's behavior shadowed that of Alfredas Pekeliunas, a third reserve officer and deputy chairman of the Seimas (Lithuania's parliament). When Pekeliunas' private information was uncovered a few weeks ago, he also denied awareness of it.
Valionis said that before taking important positions such as Lithuanian ambassador to Poland in 1994 and foreign minister in 2000 he inquired whether biographical factors could cause any legal or ethic problems. "I was told that this was not considered collaboration. Heads of state knew about it - they were informed," he said. He added that he had previously confessed this to President Valdas Adamkus.
In the Soviet period, KGB reserve officers were drafted for extreme situations, such as armed conflict, during which they were used as operative staff. Their status, however, had little similarity to that of secret agents, and the state lustration law doesn't mention them as collaborators.
Historians analyzing the Soviet secret services have said that in 1990 there were 400 KGB reserve officers in Lithuania. "Reserve officers did not perform investigative work. They did not secretly gather information and did not take it afterward to the KGB," said historian Arvydas Anusauskas.
"Although it is important to pay attention to the fact that they all were prepared for special conditions and, as far as I know, all of them were asked for personal approval [to be enlisted]. Personal interest in the KGB and loyalty were, however, significant factors," he said.
The central question is whether these reserve-rank "KGB ghosts" should be tracked down and identified. Whether or not they should be regarded as a threat to the state is unclear according to existing laws. Some politicians, however, have called for a stop to the foraging among KGB papers and to judge people by how they handled things during independence.
"We should not forget that more than 15 years have passed, and everybody had an opportunity to see who worked how for the independent Lithuania, regardless of who they were in the past," Deputy Seimas Chairman Ceslovas Jursenas, a Social Democrat, said.
Parliamentary Chairman Arturas Paulauskas, who has nominated Pocius for security chief, said that these facts were known during the most recent appointment of Pocius and Valionis. Paulauskas added that the two officials had proven their loyalty to Lithuania.
From Jan.1 a controversial special-archive law came into affect that essentially locks up KGB documents from the public's eye. The Czech Republic and Slovakia took a radically opposite path in tackling the problem, publicizing all KGB material with names of former collaborators on the Internet. Conservative Andrius Kubilius suggested applying the same procedure so that random information could no longer become grounds for blackmail.
"What else could the media do after receiving the information - keep silent and pay no attention? The question still remains for the officials themselves: Will they be able to properly continue their duties or not after the information came public?" Kubilius said.
