The Radio Free Europe office was opened in Vilnius
President Gitanas Nausėda said during the opening that this opening demonstrates that Lithuania is becoming a home for the democratic word, which will spread closer to the suffering society of Belarus.
“It is an honor to welcome one of the largest and most respected news organizations in the world, Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty, here in Vilnius. For me, this opening is an important recognition of the efforts that Lithuania shows in sheltering and helping the Belarusian community. It is symbolic, because Vilnius, the city of Pranciškas Skorina and Konstantinas Kalinauskas, should always have been for bright and free people from Belarus,” said G. Nausėda during the opening on Tuesday.
Speaker of the Seimas Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen emphasized that Vilnius has been a kind of platform for people who care about the democratic future of Belarus for some time.
“Today, the office is open, from where the independent press will spread the right word and become a counterpoint to Lukashenka’s propaganda,” said the Speaker of the Seimas.
“Your work is invaluable wherever a free press is pressed.” As during the years of Lithuanian occupation, this radio station continues to fulfill its noble task of informing and mobilizing the civil society. After all, we all know that Western radio stations, including Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, played a role in the Soviet liberation of Lithuania from Union occupation. I have no doubt that this will be the case in Belarus in the future as well,” said V. Čmilytė-Nielsen.
RFE/RL President and CEO Jamie Fly said that the office was opened after several years of open discussions and recalled that for many years Radio Free Europe broadcasted to a Lithuanian audience that was under Soviet oppression.
“From 1975 to 2004, our employees broadcasted independent news and analysis to the audience of occupied Lithuania. We spoke to the Lithuanians in their language, reminded them of their culture, history, faith, enabled them to get the information they needed,” said J.Fly.
Svetlana Cichanouskaja, who participated in the opening of the office, said that when Belarusians are fighting for the country’s democracy, this office opens up new opportunities for Belarusian journalists to spread the truth.
The Vilnius office is staffed by journalists from Belarus who were forced to flee the country after the 2020 presidential election, which is not recognized by the West, as well as a team from Current Time.
In December 2021, RFE/RL was declared an “extremist organization” in Belarus, and the distribution and consumption of its news became a criminal offense. According to J.Fly, two journalists of the Belarusian Service – Iharis Losikas and Andrejs Kuznetchykas – are still illegally imprisoned.
The RFE/RL office in Riga will also be opened on Thursday. It acts as a Russian-language media center dedicated to combating Russian propaganda.