Acting President Arturas Paulauskas led a delegation to Ukraine on April 19-20, where he met with President Leonid Kuchma, Prime Minister Viktor Janukovich, and members of Parliament.
Paulauskas declared that Lithuania would assist Ukraine in its attempts to join European organizations such as NATO and the EU.
Upon returning April 20, Paulauskas told reporters that he hoped parliamentary parties would agree on one presidential candidate. Paulauskas expressed regret over the failure of the Social Democrats, the Social Liberals, the oppositional Liberal Centrists and Conservatives to reach consensus on a candidate who would compete with former President Rolandas Paksas
Political parties released their lists of candidates for elections to the European Parliament on June 13. Current Foreign Minister Antanas Valionis (photo) topped the list of aspirants from the New Union-Social Liberal Party, while Remigijus Acas, a controversial former aide to Paksas accused of compromising state security, appeared on the list of the Liberal Democratic Party.
Parliament began considering a replacement candidate for outgoing State Security Department Chief Mecys Laurinkus. In October of last year, Paulauskas, then serving as parliamentary chairman, stopped then President Paksas' attempts to replace Laurinkus upon receiving information from the State Security Department that eventually led to Paksas' removal. Paulauskas has suggested Arvydas Pocius, Laurinkus' deputy, as a possible candidate.
General James L. Jones, (photo) NATO's supreme allied commander for Europe, met with Defense Minister Linas Linkevicius in Vilnius on April 19. Linkevicius expressed thanks to Jones for the North Atlantic Council's decision to protect the air space of the Baltic states, which began on March 29 with the arrival of four Belgian fighter planes at Zokniai Airport in northwestern Lithuania.
Rolandas Ziangre, the pilot of a stunt plane perished on April 19 when his Su-29 crashed near Kaunas. Darius Isganaitis, a champion stunt pilot, was flying as a passenger in the plane and was rushed to a Kaunas hospital with serious injuries. The Su-29 aircraft, which was damaged beyond repair, belonged to Avia Baltika, the helicopter firm of Paksas' controversial supporter Yuri Borisov.
Lawyers representing the family of Marie Trintignant, the famous French actress murdered in a Vilnius hotel room last summer, have filed an appeal with the Vilnius District Court to increase the sentence against Bertrand Cantat, Trintignant's former partner who was recently convicted of the crime. The lawyers have asked that Cantat's sentence be changed from eight years in prison to 10.
