Lithuania joins Schengen information system

As Lithuania’s Interior Ministry has reported Lithuania joined Schengen’s information system on September 1 and legal institution having right to perform search of data and to enter data to information system of Schengen.   At the moment data of people coming to the border are checked not only in national registers, but in information system of Schengen as well.

Starting from Jan.1, 2008, such control will be done only in those border checkpoints that are at the outside border of the European Union (at the border with Russia and Belarus), as well as in international airports. Checking of data of citizens of the Schengen space will be eliminated in international airports in March 2008.

As the ministry reports the experts appointed by the European Council will visit Lithuania on September 16-19 to evaluate Lithuania’s readiness to work with information system of Schengen, also to apply Shengen’s statute-book related to the information system.  After their visit the experts will deliver the findings to the European Council.  Then the European Council will make a decision on elimination of control near inner borders of the European Union by the end of this year.

KGB documents on line, welcome to the Baltics!

From now on the interested in the secret KGB past can read the organisation’s documents on line.  The Baltic historians decided to publish the KGB documents on line already last year, hence the site was launched yesterday.

The site is also planning to publish articles in English to counter the Russian propaganda –  ‘The historians from the three countries have always been annoyed by Russian propaganda that there had never been any occupation of any of the three Baltic States.’

As you will see a lot of the site is still under construction but it has a great potential for the historians, and people who are interested in the darkest pages of the history of the Soviet occupation of the Baltic states.