VILNIUS - President Rolandas Paksas delivered Lithuania the biggest shock yet of the country's five-month-long political crisis when he confirmed his plans to appoint the notorious Yuri Borisov, a Russian citizen stripped of his Lithuanian citizenship in December, a presidential adviser.
News of the sensational appointment broke in the afternoon of March 24, when Borisov, Paksas' largest campaign contributor who is under criminal investigation for threatening the president, was spotted leaving the Presidential Palace.
Asked by reporters if he had spoken with Paksas, Borisov, who is under court order not to maintain any contact with the president, stated that he had not only met with him but that he had been offered the post of public adviser in the Paksas administration.
Presidential press secretary Jurate Overlingiene soon confirmed the news, and Paksas himself went on record to substantiate the reports later that day during an interview with a reporter from LNK television.
News of the appointment to the inner sanctum of one of Lithuania's most powerful government institutions caused an immediate uproar not only among Paksas' opponents but within his very circle of supporters as well. The spontaneous decision to offer Borisov the position was seen as conclusive evidence that the controversial businessman does indeed exert strong influence on the head of state.
At an emergency meeting with the leadership of his Liberal Democratic party, Paksas was reportedly issued an ultimatum by his backers in the Seimas (Lithuania's parliament) and Presidential Palace advisers to dump Borisov.
Participants in the meeting apparently convinced the president of his mistake, and by 9:30 p.m. the Baltic News Service news agency reported a statement from presidential adviser Alvydas Medalinskas that Paksas had withdrawn his offer to Borisov.
But by the end of the day it appeared that the imbroglio had done significant damage to the president's already fragile political base, and on March 25 the president's office released a taped statement in which Paksas asked for forgiveness.
"I sincerely apologize to everyone who was offended by my action. I hope for your forgiveness and human understanding. I place my destiny in your hands," the president told Lithuanians.
Unfortunately for Paksas, his words fell on mostly deaf ears, as even some of his closest supporters called on him to resign.
"I think the speech came about five months too late. If there had been an apology five months ago, the end of this story would have been different," said Prime Minister Algirdas Brazauskas while meeting with other heads of government in Brussels.
The fallout also hit the president's team of advisers.
Presidential adviser for economic and interior policy issues, Jonas Ragauskas, handed in his resignation on March 26. "The political situation has become such that I don't think it is purposeful for my group to continue considering and planning something any longer," Ragauskas told the Baltic News Service.
Three Foreign Ministry advisers said they would also leave Paksas' team.
First Deputy Parliamentary Chairman Ceslovas Jursenas met with Paksas on March 26 to speak about the logistics of resignation, in which case Parliamentary Chairman Arturas Paulauskas, who was visiting Japan at the time, would become interim president.
While forthright with journalists about his attempts to persuade Paksas to resign, Jursenas, like most parliamentarians, is evidently convinced of the eventual outcome of the impeachment vote in the Seimas.
"I don't think it's constructive to speculate about the vote at this point," Jursenas told The Baltic Times.
On March 26, the Constitutional Court concluded its hearings on the impeachment charges against Paksas and is expected to hand down its decision in early April, after which time the Seimas will begin the final phase of proceedings before the parliamentary ballot that will determine Paksas' fate.
