Lithuania’s mobile penetration at 143 pct in late June

As BNS reported  the number of active mobile subscribers in Lithuania rose by 2.5 percent over the second quarter, to reach 4.84 million at the end of June, putting the country’s mobile penetration rate at 143 percent, the Communications Regulatory Authority (RRT) reported citing preliminary estimations.

Lithuania took the incident in Georgia very seriously

According to the President Palace press release the President of the Republic of Lithuania Valdas Adamkus had a telephone conversation with President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili. The release stated that the Presidents discussed an incident with Russian fighter planes Su-24 in Georgia.  President Adamkus noted that Lithuania was concerned about such incidents against Georgia.

The Lithuanian President delegated Minister of Foreign Affairs Petras Vaitiekūnas, currently on a visit to the United States of America, to discuss this issue with the U.S. partners and raise it among the European Union member states.As the Foreign Ministry reported the Minister Vaitiekunas had a telephone conversation with Foreign Minister Gela Bezhuashvili from Washington.The Lithuanian Foreign Ministry has also reported that during the conversation, Minister Vaitiekūnas stressed that the international community should take more active steps to guarantee Georgia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. In situations like that, it is vital that the response to provocation is cold-blooded and does not escalate the tension.   Vaitiekūnas promised to initiate a discussion of this matter in the European Union and NATO.

The Foreign Ministry has informed BNS that during Tuesday’s meeting with Deputy US Secretary of State John Negroponte, Vaitiekunas voiced concern about the recent events in Georgia. In his own turn, Negroponte said he understood Lithuania’s worries and guaranteed that this matter would be brought forward at a meeting with representatives of the Russian Federation.T

he Lithuanian Foreign Ministry has reported that the incident was registered by UN observers as well.

The 40th Curonian Regatta was stopped by the Russian boarder guards (updated)

As it was mentioned yesterday the yachtsmen who are participating in the Curonian Regatta were denied entry into Russia’s territorial waters on Monday, although Russia had officially issued the required permits.

As BNS informed later the route of the second stage of the Curonian Regatta that involved sailing through the waters of the Kaliningrad enclave all of a sudden was modified to bypass Russia as border guards refused to let the yachtsmen in.

According to the news agency this happened as Russia’s Foreign Ministry had issued a permit for the participants in the Curonian Regatta to enter the territorial waters of the country, but border guard officers were not notified of this fact.

As the organizers told to BNS yesterday   “Today I spoke with Lithuania‘s embassy in Russia, which directly cooperates with Russia’s Foreign Ministry, and officials at the embassy gave me a confirmation from Kaliningrad that we can indeed enter their waters”.

The next stage of the regatta is scheduled to take place in Russia.