Lietuva in brief - 2012-01-05

As of Jan. 1, Lithuania takes over the coordination of the Baltic and Nordic Co-operation (NB8) of Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Iceland, reports ELTA.  Lithuania plans to host around 50 different level meetings and events, during which important decisions to speed up regional integration and strengthen regional competitiveness are expected to be made. The key event - the NB8 Summit - is to take place in Vilnius on April 23. Heads and prime ministers of Nordic and Baltic States are invited to take part in it. In autumn, Nordic and Baltic foreign affairs ministers are to meet for consultations. The coordination of the NB8 is organized by a principle of rotation. Lithuania will take over the role from Finland and pass it on to Sweden in 2013.

The Moscow District Court has sentenced Chechen natives Apti and Ayshat Magomadov to 6 and 2.5 years, respectively, in a standard regime colony for recruiting a Lithuanian for a terrorist attack in Moscow, their lawyer Musa Hadisov said, reports RIA Novosti. The court held a closed session due to secret information.  Magomadov was a member of the group supervised by the leader of the Imarat Kavkaz, Doku Umarov. He was recruiting females for terrorist attacks. He recruited Egle Kusaite from Klaipeda, Lithuania with his sister’s help. The Lithuanian citizen was detained with a Russian visa in her passport and a ticket for one flight in October 2009. Hadisov insists that the Magomadovs are innocent, according to protocols of questioning. But he did not say whether he would appeal the sentence. The prosecutor wanted 6 years for Ayshat Magomadov and 9 for her brother Apti.