Category Archives: Lithuania

30 years after communism, eastern Europe divided on democracy’s impact

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Pew research reveals very different views on whether countries are better off today

Thirty years on, few people in Europe’s former eastern bloc regret the monumental political, social and economic change unleashed by the fall of communism – but at the same time few are satisfied with the way things are now, and many worry for the future.

A Pew Research Center survey of 17 countries, including 14 EU member states, found that while most people in central and eastern Europe generally embraced democracy and the market economy, support was far from uniformly strong.

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Lithuanian workers win exploitation case against Kent gangmasters

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Firm that supplied major UK supermarkets ordered to compensate trafficking victims forced to live and work in inhumane conditions

Eleven Lithuanian trafficking victims who suffered severe exploitation while working as chicken catchers on British farms have won a high court case against “the worst gangmaster ever”.

Three of the Lithuanian workers told the court about the brutal conditions experienced by workers between 2009 and 2012 while under the control of DJ Houghton Chicken Catching Services, a Kent-based gangmaster firm.

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Baltic states no longer a bridge between east and west, says Latvia

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Russian interference in elections and corruption scandals prompt rethink

The Baltic states can no longer cast themselves in the role of a bridge between Russia and the west, the Latvian foreign minister, Edgars Rinkēvičs, has said in an interview with the Guardian.

Successive crises have shown Russian determination to interfere in western democracy or use Baltic banks to launder corrupt money, Rinkēvičs said after a visit to London during which he met Dominic Grieve, the chairman of the UK intelligence and security committee.

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Superyachts and private schools: Britain’s dirty money problem

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Russian money – some legitimate, some the proceeds of fraud – was channeled through a Lithuanian bank into the UK, according to a major leak of banking documents. The Guardian’s Juliette Garside has been investigating for months and describes how Prince Charles and some of England’s most exclusive schools have benefited. Plus: Ben Beaumont-Thomas on the legacy of the Prodigy’s Keith Flint

The leak of more than 1m bank transactions has shown how an estimated $4.6bn (£3.5bn) was sent to Europe and the US from a Russian-operated network of 70 offshore companies with accounts in Lithuania.

The Guardian’s Juliette Garside has been investigating the network and where the money ended up. She tells India Rakusen that money linked to major Russian fraud cases was laundered with funds from legitimate enterprise, making it impossible to trace the original source. It could then be spent on luxury goods, private school fees and property.

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Banking leak exposes Russian network with link to Prince Charles

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Exclusive: investigation reveals how Troika Dialog channelled $4.6bn to Europe and US

A charity run by Prince Charles received donations from an offshore company that was used to funnel vast amounts of cash from Russia in a scheme that is under investigation by prosecutors, the Guardian can reveal.

Money flowing through the network included cash that can be linked to some of the most notorious frauds committed during Vladimir Putin’s presidency.

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US Air Force F-15 Eagles from RAF Lakenheath intercept Russian jets above the Baltic region

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US Air Force F-15 Eagles from RAF Lakenheath intercept Russian jets over the Baltic region. Picture: 48th Fighter Wing/Tech Sgt Roidan Carlson/ DVIDS These are moments fighter jets from RAF Lakenheath intercepted Russian jets on two separate occasions while deployed to help protect the sovereign skies above the Baltic region.