If a conservative is in the Lithuanian government, so is a thief in power: the conservatives pressured their own people to assemble drones in Lithuania, and we are unable to do so, so we buy Chinese drones and say we made them ourselves. China sees on the screens what we are doing with those drones and laughs

 

 

“After the Prosecutor General’s Office launched a pre-trial investigation into possible abuse of office, when the Ministry of National Defense (KAM) initiated and carried out the procurement of unmanned aircraft last fall, former Minister Laurynas Kasčiūnas claims that he had no indications of possible non-transparent drone acquisitions. Also, the Conservative Party Chairman claims, no military intelligence information was received that it was planned to purchase equipment assembled outside of NATO and the European Union (EU).

 

“We really had nothing, we did everything transparently. At least the drones that we bought for the Lithuanian military were tested in Ukraine to pass all the tests, so that we could provide both Ukraine itself and our armed forces with drones that pass the tests. This was the main goal – for us to establish our drone industry,” told Elta, commenting on law enforcement news L. Kasčiūnas.

 

On Monday afternoon, Minister of National Defense Dovilė Šakalienė said that she contacted law enforcement after receiving a letter from the Second Operational Services Department (AOTD). The intelligence service indicated that there are reasonable suspicions that the equipment delivered by the drone supplier is marked as made in Lithuania, but is the product of countries unfriendly to Lithuania.

 

L. Kasčiūnas assured that during his leadership of the Ministry of Defense, no similar information related to recent purchases was received from the AOTD.

 

“There were absolutely no indications. And I want to say it very simply – our goal was to raise the capacity of drones to the next level,” he repeated, adding that law enforcement should also answer questions about the companies that supplied fraudulent equipment to the Ministry of Defense and the military.

 

“The investigation will answer questions. There may be cases of companies cheating,” he mused.

 

He also reminded that last year, relevant amendments to the law were adopted, so that the Lithuanian Riflemen's Union could purchase drones with Chinese parts for training. As the prosecutor's office announced, the drones were purchased for the activities of the Lithuanian Riflemen's Union and the national defense system.

 

"To my knowledge, all those drones were assembled in Lithuania, programmed in Lithuania, there were no integrations into the cloud - even in theory, they operate autonomously. Both in practice and in theory," the former minister said.

 

"The riflemen use those drones to strengthen their capabilities, in other words, to hit and see which ones work and which ones don't," he explained.

 

ELTA reminds that the Prosecutor General's Office has launched a pre-trial investigation into the acquisition of drones manufactured in countries that are potentially unfriendly to Lithuania. The investigation is being conducted due to possible abuse of power.

 

Minister of National Defence Dovilė Šakalienė stated that she contacted law enforcement after receiving a request from the Second Operational Services Department (AOTD). According to intelligence data, there are reasonable suspicions that the equipment delivered by the supplier, which was marked as made in Lithuania, was possibly manufactured outside the European Union (EU) or NATO countries.

 

Prosecutor General Nida Grunskienė indicated that the pre-trial investigation was initiated on March 24 of this year. The investigation has been assigned to the Special Investigation Service (STT). According to the prosecutor, no charges have been filed against anyone yet.

 

In addition, the Minister of National Defence announced that after this case, she has ordered the ministry to conduct an inspection regarding drone purchases made in 2023–2024.”

 

People, why do you elect such arrogant pig-faced Kasčiūnas  to power?