Several Soviet OMON assaults on Lithuanian border posts occurred in 1991, after
Lithuania declared its independence from the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
on 11 March 1990. As a Soviet republic, the
Lithuanian SSR
The Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic (Lithuanian SSR; lt, Lietuvos Tarybų Socialistinė Respublika; russian: Литовская Советская Социалистическая Республика, Litovskaya Sovetskaya Sotsialistiche ...
did not have a state border with
customs or
checkpoints. The newly declared Republic of Lithuania began establishing the
State Border Guard Service, before it was internationally recognized on 27 August 1991 by the states of the
European Community
The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organization created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisb ...
.
These posts also became a symbol of its struggle for independence.
[ The Soviet government viewed the customs posts as illegal and sent the ]OMON
OMON (russian: ОМОН – Отряд Мобильный Особого Назначения , translit = Otryad Mobil'nyy Osobogo Naznacheniya , translation = Special Purpose Mobile Unit, , previously ru , Отряд Милиции Осо� ...
(Special Purpose Police Unit) troops to harass the posts, especially those along the eastern border with Belarus
Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...
. The unarmed[ custom officers and armed policemen were intimidated, beaten or killed, their cars were stolen or bombed, the posts were burned down or wrecked, and work of the checkpoints was otherwise disrupted.][ Two of the incidents resulted in the deaths of a total of eight Lithuanian citizens. In total, about 60 officers were attacked and injured,][ and 23 border posts were burned or destroyed.][
]
Early attacks
The first incident occurred on 17 December 1990 in Eišiškės
Eišiškės (, pl, Ejszyszki, russian: Эйши́шки/Eishishki, be, Эйшы́шкі/Eishyshki, yi, אײשישאָק/Eyshishok/Eishishok) is a small city in southeastern Lithuania on the border with Belarus. It is situated on a small group ...
.[ Shift leader Petras Pumputis was beaten, lost consciousness, and was taken to a hospital with a cerebral hemorrhage. The first organized attacks were organized following the events of 11–13 January 1991 in ]Vilnius
Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urb ...
when 14 civilians were killed near the Vilnius TV Tower. Soviet troops attacked and burned border posts in Medininkai
Medininkai (; be, Меднікі) is a village in Lithuania, located east of Vilnius city municipality and from the Lithuanian–Belarusian border.
The village is situated on the Medininkai Highland, near the highest points of Lithuania � ...
and Lavoriškės
Lavoriškės is a village in Vilnius district municipality, Lithuania, it is located only about east of Vilnius city municipality
Vilnius ( , ; see also #Etymology and other names, other names) is the capital and List of cities in Lithuania# ...
on 27 January.[ On 1 March, OMON troops fired at a border guard bus returning from Vilnius. Three Lithuanian guards were injured.][
In mid-May 1991, various incidents were reported almost daily. On 18 May, Belarusian police captain A. Fiyaz (A. Фиязь) fired at a Lithuanian post in ]Šalčininkai
Šalčininkai (, , yi, סאָלעטשניק ''Solechnik'', be, Салечнікі) is a town in Vilnius County, Lithuania, situated south-east of Vilnius, near the border with Belarus.
Šalčininkai attained the town status in 1956 and is now ...
with a TT pistol
The TT-30,, "7.62 mm Tokarev self-loading pistol model 1930", TT stands for Tula-Tokarev) commonly known simply as the Tokarev, is an out-of-production Soviet semi-automatic pistol. It was developed in 1930 by Fedor Tokarev as a service pi ...
; Fiyaz was killed when a Lithuanian officer returned fire with a hunting rifle.[ Fearing retaliation, the Lithuanian officers were ordered to leave their posts. Officer Gintaras Žagunis did not leave his station in Krakūnai and was killed on 19 May. Žagunis was given a public funeral in the Antakalnis Cemetery. The same night two other posts were burned down.][ On 23 May, OMON troops from Riga assaulted border posts on the Lithuanian–Latvian border in , ]Mažeikiai
Mažeikiai (; Samogitian: ''Mažeikē''; lv, Mažeiķi) is a city in northwestern Lithuania, on the Venta River. It has a population of around 43,547, making it the eighth largest city in Lithuania. The city is the administrative center of M ...
, , Saločiai, .[ Five Latvian posts were also attacked. The attack on Smėlynė was filmed by ]Alexander Nevzorov
Alexander Glebovich Nevzorov (russian: Алекса́ндр Гле́бович Невзо́ров; born on 3 August 1958) is a Russian (since 2022, also Ukrainian) television journalist, film director and a former member of the Russian State ...
and later shown on Leningrad TV.[
Following these attacks, Lithuanian Prime Minister ]Gediminas Vagnorius
Gediminas Vagnorius (born 10 June 1957) is a Lithuanian politician and signatory of the Act of the Re-Establishment of the State of Lithuania. He served as the Prime Minister of Lithuania, heading the government between 1991 and 1992, and again f ...
officially complained to Boris Pugo
Boris Karlovich Pugo, OAN ( lv, Boriss Pugo, russian: Борис Карлович Пуго; 19 February 1937 – 22 August 1991) was a Soviet Communist politician of Latvian origin.
Biography Early life and education
Pugo was born in Kalinin, ...
, Soviet Minister of Internal Affairs in charge of OMON troops. Moscow denied responsibility for the attacks and claimed that the OMON troops acted without their approval.[ Mikhail Gorbachev disclaimed any knowledge of the attacks and ordered Pugo to investigate. However, on 24 and 25 May five more posts were assaulted.][ Lithuania appealed to western countries asking to protest about the actions of the Soviet government. Moscow continued to deny responsibility, but admitted that the actions of OMON troops were criminal.][ Despite promises to intervene, the attacks continued through mid-June.][ On 28 June, Moscow took the first actions to discipline OMON – its leaders were called to explain themselves and were reassigned.][
]
Medininkai incident
The most serious attack occurred when OMON troops from Riga attacked the Lithuanian customs post in Medininkai
Medininkai (; be, Меднікі) is a village in Lithuania, located east of Vilnius city municipality and from the Lithuanian–Belarusian border.
The village is situated on the Medininkai Highland, near the highest points of Lithuania � ...
on the Vilnius–Minsk highway on 31 July 1991. It is thought that the attack took place around 04:00 because a watch belonging to one of the victims stopped at this hour.[ Seven officers were shot and killed: Mindaugas Balavakas and Algimantas Juozakas (officers of the Special Division ARAS), Juozas Janonis and Algirdas Kazlauskas (officers of the highway police), Antanas Musteikis, Stanislovas Orlavičius and Ričardas Rabavičius (customs officers).][ Rabavičius died on 2 August in hospital. The only survivor, customs officer Tomas Šernas, suffered severe brain damage and became disabled. The ARAS officers were supposed to provide protection to the post and were armed. However, their weapons were missing from the scene and there were no signs of returned fire.][ The Lithuanian officers were forced to lie down on the ground and then shot in the head, execution style.][ Those killed were buried in the Antakalnis Cemetery. The victims were awarded the ]Cross of Vytis
The Order of the Cross of Vytis ( lt, Vyčio Kryžiaus ordinas) is a Lithuanian presidential award conferred for heroic defence of Lithuania's freedom and independence. November 23 is a holiday in honour of the Order of the Cross of Vytis. Hist ...
(6 September 1991) and the Medal of 13 January (9 January 1992).
The incident occurred during US President
The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...
George H. W. Bush's two-day visit in Moscow. Bush specifically addressed the incident in one of the press conferences, but downplayed its importance in the Lithuanian struggle for international recognition and shielded Gorbachev from responsibility.[ It was speculated that the assailants wanted to embarrass Gorbachev showcasing his inability to control the situation in the dissolving Soviet Union.][ The attack might have been a response to a treaty between Lithuania and ]Boris Yeltsin
Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin ( rus, Борис Николаевич Ельцин, p=bɐˈrʲis nʲɪkɐˈla(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈjelʲtsɨn, a=Ru-Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin.ogg; 1 February 1931 – 23 April 2007) was a Soviet and Russian politician wh ...
, newly elected President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
* President (education), a leader of a college or university
* President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...
of Russian SFSR
The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...
.[ The treaty established formal diplomatic relations and addressed economic and cultural issues between Lithuania and Russia;][ it was seen as an important step towards recognition of Lithuania's independence.][ Another version claims that the guards discovered a large smuggling operation.][
]
Investigation and trials
The attacks stopped after the executions in Medininkai, save for an attack on a post in Kybartai
Kybartai (; russian: Кибартай) is a city in Marijampolė County, Lithuania. It is located west of Vilkaviškis and is on the border of Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia.
History
Kybartai was founded under the reign of Sigismund I the Old ...
on 22 August 1991 during the August Coup
August is the eighth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars, and the fifth of seven months to have a length of 31 days. Its zodiac sign is Leo and was originally named ''Sextilis'' in Latin because it was the 6th month in ...
in Moscow.[ After the coup failed, the Soviet Union disintegrated. Members of OMON dispersed throughout the former union, many of them becoming citizens of the Russia Federation. The Lithuanian government attempted to investigate the attacks and prosecute the suspects, but the efforts were hindered by complex ]extradition
Extradition is an action wherein one jurisdiction delivers a person accused or convicted of committing a crime in another jurisdiction, over to the other's law enforcement. It is a cooperative law enforcement procedure between the two jurisdi ...
requests. In December 1991, the Lithuanians presented to Russia a list of more than 20 people wanted for their involvement in January Events and Medininkai incident.[ However, the Lithuanians were refused even requests to question witnesses.][
]
Trial of Konstantin Mikhailov
In December 2006, the Lithuanian prosecutors issued a European Arrest Warrant for Latvian citizen Konstantin Nikulin, a suspect in the Medininkai killings. He was arrested by Latvian police on 28 November 2007.[ Nikulin had already been tried and received a suspended sentence of 2.5 years in 2004 for his involvement in the January 1991 events in Latvia. After the trial, Nikulin became a key witness to an unrelated murder and changed his surname to Konstantin Mikhailov (Konstantinas Michailovas) as part of a witness protection program.][ On 28 January 2008, the Supreme Court of Latvia decided to extradite Mikhailov to Lithuania, and he was jailed in the Lukiškės Prison awaiting trial. The case has some 220 witnesses and volumes of written material.][ The ]statute of limitations
A statute of limitations, known in civil law systems as a prescriptive period, is a law passed by a legislative body to set the maximum time after an event within which legal proceedings may be initiated. ("Time for commencing proceedings") In ...
for murder is 20 years; thus the expiration date would be July 2011.[ On 11 May 2011, Mikhailov was found guilty of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment.][ Mikhailov appealed against the decision claiming innocence while Lithuanian prosecutors appealed against the decision hoping to convict Mikhailov of crimes against humanity.][ On 6 June 2016, the Appeals Court upheld the life imprisonment sentence and reclassified the crime from murder to "acts against people prohibited by international law" (Article 100 of the ]Criminal Code of Lithuania
Criminal Code of the Republic of Lithuania () is the Criminal Code of Lithuania, the prime source of Law of Lithuania concerning criminal offences.
The Criminal Code came into force together with the Code of Criminal Process, Code of Punishment ...
).[ Mikhailov appealed the decision to the Supreme Court of Lithuania which started its proceedings on 11 January 2017.][ The Supreme Court upheld the conviction on 28 February, but Mikhailov submitted an appeal to the ]European Court of Human Rights
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR or ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights. The court hears applications alleging that ...
.[
]
''In absentia'' trials
Other suspects in the Medininkai case, namely commander Czeslaw Mlynnik (Česlavas Mlinykas), Alexander Ryzhov (Aleksandras Ryžovas), and Andrei Laktionov (Andrejus Laktionovas), are citizens of Russia and have not been extradited.[ In 2009, Ryzhov was tried for organized crime and armed robbery in ]Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
, and in June 2011 he received a 15-year sentence.[ In December 2010, Lithuania amended its ]Criminal Code
A criminal code (or penal code) is a document that compiles all, or a significant amount of a particular jurisdiction's criminal law. Typically a criminal code will contain offences that are recognised in the jurisdiction, penalties that might ...
to allow ''in absentia'' trials in cases of crimes against humanity. In June 2013, the Lithuanians completed pre-trial procedures ''in absentia'' for a trial of the three men for crimes against humanity.[ Lithuania has issued European Arrest Warrants for the three men. All three were sentenced ''in absentia'' to life imprisonment in October 2016; they are also liable to pay 653,850 euros to the state to cover expenses of state funerals, benefits and pensions to relatives, medical expenses of the survivors, etc. as well as a further 100,000 euros in compensation to each parent, spouse, and child of the killed men.][ Another suspect, Igor Gorban, was identified by the only survivor Tomas Šernas during Gorban's 2004 trial in Riga. However, Gorban was not charged due to lack of evidence.][
Another ''in absentia'' trial concerns Vilnius OMON commanders Boleslav Makutynovich (Boleslavas Makutynovičius) and Vladimir Razvodov (Vladimiras Razvodovas). They are not implicated in the Medininkai massacre, but are accused of ordering assaults on other border posts and other actions aimed at intimidating the public (in total, 15 specific instances).][ In July 2015, Vilnius District Court found them not guilty.][ The decision was appealed by Lithuanian prosecutors. According to unconfirmed reports, Makutynovich died in November 2015.][ On 24 January 2017, the Appeals Court ruled that the District Court improperly interpreted that crimes against humanity could be committed only in a time of war or other armed conflict and sentenced Razvodov to 12 years imprisonment and 14,000 euros in compensation for damages.][ Razvodov is believed to live in Russia and Lithuania has issued a European Arrest Warrant for him.][
]
References
{{Post-Cold War European conflicts
Political repression in the Soviet Union
History of Lithuania (1990–present)
1991 in Lithuania
1991 in the Soviet Union
Terrorist incidents in Europe in 1991
Lithuania–Russia relations
Conflicts in 1990
Conflicts in 1991
Lithuanian border posts
Terrorist incidents in Lithuania
Post-Soviet conflicts
Attacks on military installations in the 1990s
Military raids