Mindaugas Kvietkauskas, dean of the Faculty of Philology at Vilnius University, stated: “I want to announce that the employment contract with Andrei Desnitsky will be terminated in August.”
Desnitsky had worked as a researcher and lecturer at Vilnius University since last autumn. While still living in Moscow, he wrote articles denying the occupation of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania by the Soviet Union. Desnitsky claimed that the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin only insisted that the Baltic countries join the Soviet Union. He also asserted that there was no resistance to Soviet troops, and added that “formally, under the Russian army there was more freedom” than in interwar independent Lithuania.
Desnitsky was hired as a research fellow because he met all the requirements set by the university. His work was funded by an international foundation, but Vilnius University rector Raimundas Balčiūnaitis declined to disclose its name. Desnitsky himself refused to comment.
The publication also mentions that in Lithuania, 1,164 Belarusians and Russians have been recognized as a threat to national security. It was also reported that Russian lieutenant Ivan Korolev illegally crossed the Lithuanian border and requested asylum.
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