Twenty years ago she was called the Baltics’ Amber Lady, who led Lithuania to its independence, but today the KGB collaboration shadow haunts Kazimiera Danute Prunskiene, even though she has successfully fought off this accusation in court. Out of the Lithuanian Parliament and ousted from the chairwomanship of the Lithuanian Peasant Popular Union, in 2009, instead of enjoying life out of politics, she established the pro-Russian Lithuanian Populace Party (LPP), which is said to be of increased interest to Lithuania’s State Security Department. Though the party was doomed to defeat in the municipality elections in 2011, it was among the parties to have gained the biggest financial contributions from electoral campaign donors. The first prime minister of independent Lithuania and, currently, chairwoman of the controversial Lithuanian Populace Party, sat down with The Baltic Times for this interview.
You are one among the 1990s’ brightest politicians, who has been pushed off the active political stage. How do you feel? Why, instead of allowing a younger generation to have its say in politics, do you try to cling to the stage through the LPP project, which has not been off to the start you had expected?
It always happens with an election: some are pushed away from active politics while others are thrown into it, not necessarily feeling like [they are] in their [own] shoes. I am grateful to fate to not be in the Seimas [Lithuanian Parliament] and the government. If I were in either, I would probably feel as if incarcerated, as no one needs another opinion there. Trust me: I can work meaningfully away from power. Your question on allowing younger people to be in politics sounds strange to me. If it is addressed to me personally, you should know that there are a lot of those who are elder by a decade, or more, than me. Let the political youngsters work fruitfully. However, will the youth guarantee maturity and productivity in decisions? Seimas is not a place to learn.
You could have stayed in active politics and joined the left-wing parties when your positions in the once-parliamentary Lithuanian Peasant Populace Party had been visibly shaken up. Was it not your personal whim to pursue establishing your own party, the LPP?
It was one of the options to join another political party. I do not think it was a mistake to seek establishment of the LPP. It is not a leftist party. It is a center-oriented party that seeks equilibrium in state politics. I want to mention a few cornerstone guidelines we want to pursue: a balance of Western political priorities and active cooperation with the Eastern countries in the field of foreign policy, a balance in expansion of cities and the countryside, equal participatory opportunities for women and men.
How many members do you have? How many branches do you have countrywide? Many political analysts see your party as a single-person party, i.e yours.
The LPP unites nearly 3,000 members in 34 municipalities as the establishment of new branches in under way. Is the LPP of a single person? Whom would be necessary for such a party? I do not need a party, as I keep a very busy way of life.
The LPP was chided for participating in the conventions of the Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin-led Jedinaja Rosija and the Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev-led Kazakh ruling party. It made Lithuanian political analysts speak loudly of your Eastern orientation. What does the LPP share in common with the parties?
My participation in the conventions, as well as the ties with Edgar Savisaar’s Estonian Center Party and others, is in line with the inter-party relations we are seeking to expand. To answer your question, we share some common goals in our programs, as well as the will to activate mutual economic, political and cultural ties. It is especially important considering the unfavorable interstate cooperation climate we have currently with the Eastern countries.
However, the LPP, along with the controversial Paleckis’ Socialist Front, are considered to be the only pro-Russian parties in the country. Does this epithet hurt you? More importantly, does it help you in your political aspirations?
Just because the party is called this way does not mean it “limps” towards the East. I have worked exceptionally for 20 years for the West, particularly for Germany. I doubt whether any other politician can overcome me, energy-wise, in terms of my efforts and activity in the East. What I do is a reaction to the ever changing world. Only those Russia-phobia-full parties label us pro-Russian, which they themselves aim at creating a bipartisan pseudo-democracy in Lithuania.
The pro-Russian Latvian Harmony Center caters to the 30 percent of Latvia’s Russian populace. What electorate are you to target in the 2012 Seimas election campaign?
We do not lean on a certain nationality or a particular social layer. There are two, or even three, pro-Russian parties in Lithuania. It seems they are not very happy about our cooperation with Russia, as they see it as a certain competition to them and the Russian community in Lithuania. We avoid focusing on a narrow social group as we are mostly oriented to the middle social stratum, taking up small- and medium-sized businessmen and workers, as well as people from culture and science.
Your party was dealt losses in the former municipal elections last year, despite having one of the very best financed electoral campaigns.
The main reasons of the defeat included the wrong identification of the party and me, its chairwoman. Many people traditionally had associated me with the Lithuanian Peasant Populace Party, which I chaired for a while. With nearly a half-year left till the elections after the party was registered, we simply did not have enough time to form electoral lists of our candidates in many municipalities. I have no doubt that the Lithuanian electorate will identify the Lithuanian Populace Party, and it will become leverage against the traditional ruling parties.
Have you stitched up your program for the 2012 Seimas elections? What are its key provisions? What are you going to put a special emphasis on in it?
We have outlined them, but we are not in a hurry to make them [provisions] public. From my previous experiences, when made public too early, they usually [end up being] re-phrased and in other parties’ programs. We do not want that.
By emphasizing ties with the East, and Russia first, you are to compete with the massive Social Democrat and Labor parties for the closer-Russian-ties votes. How can you stand against them in this pursuit?
In order to avoid the [visible] turbulences and help to strengthen the state, we have chosen the center.
How do you evaluate the recent [Russian] Duma elections from the standpoint of democracy? Do you believe the elections were transparent and democratic?
It is necessary to live a bit longer and work slightly more in order to see a totally transparent election in Russia, and in other countries, including our regions, on the whole. However, the political pluralism, an aftermath of the recent elections, we see in the Duma, is a stride towards being more democratic. The rallies with the freely expressed notions we see in Russia is the expression of the process. And let’s not sanctify the Russian opposition parties, criticizing only Putin’s Jedinaja Rosija for the supposed lack of democracy. Before lashing out at any foreign country, we have to first see how it [the criticism] will affect regional stability and peace efforts. In that sense, considering good mutual relations with Russia is a necessity for our national interests; we have to pursue the objective of good interstate relations in practice, not only to declare it.
Do you believe the unrest in Russia, potentially capable of drawing out at least till the presidential elections in March, can possibly turn into a “Russian spring?”
Our party’s concern is that Russia remains a stable and safe country, willing to expand the interest of cooperation with its neighbors. We see the developments of Russian politics exactly through this prism.
I reckon there will be no extraordinary domestic shake-ups in Russia in the nearest five or more years. I do not see any reasons for that. Russia’s political leaders and the heads of main state institutions are strong personalities who find mutual agreement. That is what exasperates some of their opponents. However, would it be better for all of us here if Russia were plagued with its leaders’ mutual conflicts and a frequent change of power? Such a situation would turn against Lithuania.
If the unrest in Russia expands, would it not trigger an anti-Baltic rhetoric, accusing the Baltic States, Lithuania included, of the Russian ethnic minority’s rights violations?
The unrest would harm Lithuanian business interests in Russia, first of all. As far as I have noticed while participating in Russian TV programs on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the rubble of the Soviet Union, there are some politicians on the Lithuanian political landscape who are not glad with the way the USSR broke down. Thus, they pour water on the mill without understanding the consequences of the action.
Speaking of the Russian population in Lithuania, I do not think it is interested in having a weaker Lithuania. Unlike the Polish-Lithuanian community, Russians in Lithuania identify themselves with the Lithuanian state more than with their historical Motherland, Russia. There is no need for anyone to artificially create enemies of Lithuania, which, to tell the truth, is very beneficial to some before an election.
Do you see a possibility before the upcoming parliamentary election of Russia trying to influence the electoral campaign with the lever Russia successfully uses everywhere – higher gas prices? Russia may hint they will go down, if Lithuania’s parties supporting closer ties with Russia win the elections?
It is an absurdity, overstepping the boundaries of any decency and logic. If you assume the Lithuanian Populace Party is “a card” in someone’s hands, you are very mistaken. Differently from other parties, we do not look at an election as gambling – we are working in order to help Lithuania.
Do most of your earnings come mostly from the rent you receive as signatory to the Act of Independence of Lithuania?
It suffices fully for me, especially when my children do not ask me to support them. Frankly, I devote the biggest part of it for humanitarian and cultural purposes.
Amid your 2009 presidential campaign, an interview with you from the beginning of Lithuanian independence was brought up, claiming you had admitted to collaborating with the KGB under the pseudonym of Satrijos ragana (Sartrijos witch). Although this has not been proved in court, you have to agree that the KGB shadow will haunt you till the end of your days. How do handle this?
Every time before an election, political opponents, having read half of a sentence, “discovers” some “acknowledgement,” or create some another myth. Thus, even these days I hear a fairytale of my supposed collaboration with the USSR leader Mikhail Gorbachev being told. This is being done by the persons who have something to be ashamed of themselves, and who have something to repent for before the nation, i.e. duping it, lies and doing harm.
How do you evaluate the work of the current government?
I evaluate it very skeptically and I have serious arguments for that. Its decisions, for the most part, are counter-productive. The government knows how to brag, but not how to work. I see very few professionals in the Cabinet.
Are you concerned that by many you will be remembered not as the Baltics’ Amber Lady, the name you were known by until the LPP’s birth, but as a scornful, power-hungry political loser?
History itself will place me where I belong. Modern history has proved already that I have been right many times. The constructive world is shifting towards closer cooperation with the Eastern countries and, I believe, it is a matter of time when Lithuanian politicians will perceive that.
2025 © The Baltic Times /Cookies Policy Privacy Policy