Jan. 28, 2021
In an unusual move, the U.S. ambassador to Lithuania accused a local senior lawmaker of distorting the history of the Holocaust and blaming Jews for it.
Robert Gilchrist, who took up the post in February last year, made the accusation following a speech Wednesday by Valdas Rakutis, a member of the Seimas, Lithuania’s parliament, and chairman of its commission on historical memory.
“There was no shortage of Holocaust perpetrators among the Jews themselves, especially in the ghetto self-government structures,” Rakutis said in the speech, which took place on International Holocaust Remembrance Day. “We need to name these people out loud and try not to have people like them again.”
New rotation of US troops arrives in Lithuania
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A new rotation of US troops arrived in Lithuania / Defence Ministry
A new rotational US force has arrived in Lithuania, the country s Defence Ministry said on Tuesday. The armoured battalion from the US Army 8th Cavalry Regiment will stay in Lithuania until the end of February.
The new troops replace the 2nd Brigade, 69th Regiment, 2nd Battalion, US Army, which was in Lithuania from September, the ministry said. The armoured battalion is bringing Abrams main battle tanks, as well as Bradley infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs).
“The US is the key transatlantic ally of Lithuania [and] its contribution to [.] deterrence and defence throughout the region is indispensable,” Defence Minister Arvydas Anušauskas said in a statement.