Lithuanian Defense Minister Embroiled In Leopard Tank Comment Row
Lithuanian defense minister Arvydas Anušauskas said on Thursday that he believed that he had not lost the trust of Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda, after Nausėda criticized him for statements he made regarding a potential Lithuanian purchase of Leopard 2 main battle tanks.
Anušauskas told reporters that he had not disclosed classified information with his comments on why the Leopard 2 had been selected. Public broadcaster LRT quoted him as saying that he did not need to speak on the president’s behalf, as if he had lost the president’s trust, then action would have been taken against him for his comments.
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda said on Wednesday that Anušauskas had shared information on the tank purchase “not entirely correctly”, as the State Defence Council Anušauskas is on had agreed that restricted information should not be shared on Facebook “right after” council meetings.
“I understand that it may seem to some to be a very important part of the job to share the freshest information on Facebook, but it really should not be the primary function of a minister or any other public official. Especially since you always have to think about the secondary consequences of making such information public”, said the President. “It’s a pity that we have to keep reminding the seemingly grown-up people who are members of VGT about this (not sharing information). I hope we will draw the right conclusions.”
Nausėda’s comments were directed at a since-deleted post by Anušauskas on his official Facebook page following the defense minister’s Monday announcement of Vilnius’ intent to sign a letter of intent to purchase Leopard 2s. In the post, Anušauskas claimed that the Leopard 2 had been compared against American Abrams and Korean K2 Black Panther main battle tanks, with the Leopard selected as it was the best fit for the Lithuanian Defence Staff’s requirements.
Opposition lawmaker Agnė Širinskienė has accused Anušauskas of leaking classified information with the Facebook post, announcing in a Facebook post of her own that she had filed a report with the prosecutor general’s office requesting an investigation into the defense minister’s actions.
On Friday, it was reported that an investigation by Lithuanian Ministry of National Defense security specialists, responsible for the protection of classified information, evaluated Anušauskas’ Facebook post indicated that no violations were detected.
The Lithuanian Army announced in May that it was seeking the purchase of up to 53 main battle tanks as part of plans to stand up a division. The move would create the largest military unit in the country’s modern history, with the army currently composed of two permanent brigades and around 11,000 full-time soldiers.