Lithuanian soldier Mantas Sutkus has died under mysterious circumstances while serving the U.S. Special Forces. Circumstances are kept secret even from his family members. Mantas Sutkus was a member of the Green Berets 's soldiers serving on the Special Operations Force under the U.S. Army. Neither the cause nor the whereabouts of the tragedy have been disclosed to Mantas' relatives, Lietuvos Rytas newspaper reported. "Operations undertaken by the Green Berets are secret, therefore we don't know where he was stationed," the father of the dead soldier, Kestutis Sutkus, said from his home in the state of New Jersey. "This is a special group, which sometimes ends up in places where American forces shouldn't step in, like, say, Iran or Pakistan. We don't even know where he was and what he was doing. We are yet to receive official information. We are continuously being told that an investigation is ongoing."
Chairman of the pan-European Libertas party Declan Ganley met with National Resurrection Party Chairman and Parliament Speaker Arunas Valinskas in Vilnius during campaign efforts to nominate candidates for European Parliament in Lithuania. The meeting was not made public in the list of the Lithuanian parliamentary speaker's engagements. "The meeting was solely intended for getting acquainted," Valinskas' spokesperson Indre Virzyte told the Baltic News Service. "The party, not its chairman, will decide," said Virzyte when asked whether the meeting addressed potential cooperation between the Libertas and the National Resurrection Party in the EP elections. According to information available to BNS, Libertas is planning to nominate local candidates in Lithuania for the EP. Libertas, established at the end of last year, announced plans to nominate its candidates for the EP in all 27 European Union (EU) member states. The party is campaigning for democracy, accountability and transparency in the community and opposes the Lisbon Treaty.
Russian Vice-Foreign Minister Vladimir Titov agreed with Lithuanian Foreign Undersecretary Evaldas Ignatavicius that the countries should speed up signing the agreements on taking care of the graves of civilians and victims of wars and repressions, as well as on cultural and scientific cooperation. The consultations in Vilnius addressed prominent issues of Lithuanian-Russian relations, drafts of treaties under preparation, planned visits and common events. According to the press release, the participants of the meeting applauded the development of mutual economic relations and discussed the perspectives for further development. An agreement was reached to hold a Lithuania-Russia business forum in the nearest future.
