Almost 40 individuals, including artist Stasys Eidrigevicius, Mindaugas Kvietkauskas, a literary critic and poet now serving as Lithuania's culture minister, and historian Rimvydas Petrauskas, received Poland's state awards on Friday.
Polish community
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Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz on Thursday called on Lithuania to allow the original spelling of the names of local Poles in their passports.
Lithuania's report of national security threats this year no longer speaks about the Polish community, as "the situation has improved," says Darius Jauniškis, director of the State Security Department.
There is growing support in the corridors of power for an initiative to allow the original spelling of non-Lithuanian surnames on the main page of passports for people married to foreigners, but not for ethnic Poles living in Lithuania.
By the warning of "exclusive rights" to local Poles in the annual assessment of national security threats, the Lithuanian State Security Department meant the possible risks of separatism, not the name-spelling with non-Lithuanian characters or bilingual street signs, says the department's director D...
Some political experts say that the State Security Department had no reasons to get involved in political discussions about granting "exclusive rights" to Poles living in Lithuania.
Russia aims to boost it influence upon the Tatar community in Lithuania and take advantage of the disputes on the rights of the Polish residents of Lithuania, intelligence institutions said in an annual report of national security threats published on Monday.
A Polish diplomat stated on Friday that the situation of Polish minorities in Lithuania is worse than that in Belarus, and the outstanding problems may make it difficult to persuade Polish troops to take care of Baltic security.
