Lithuanian border guard chief Rustamas Liubajevas resigns

Rustamas Liubajevas, head of Lithuania’s State Border Guard Service, has resigned, saying stability and the continued operation of the service were the most important considerations, LRT and BNS reported.

Interior Minister Martynas Katelynas announced the decision on Monday. Liubajevas said stepping down was the most beneficial decision for the service, which employs nearly 4,000 border guards.

“As the head of a statutory institution, what matters most to me at this time is stability in the system and ensuring the normal continuation of its work,” Liubajevas said in a statement on Facebook.

He said he had decided to leave in response to doubts expressed publicly about the State Border Guard Service and out of a sense of full responsibility for both its successes and failures.

Liubajevas said the service had made substantial progress since he became its head in 2019 and was now an example of a highly professional border protection structure. He thanked the border guards he had worked with and said he was leaving behind a professional team that would continue protecting Lithuania’s and the European Union’s borders.

Katelynas said at a news conference that Liubajevas had made the decision himself.

“No, I certainly did not contribute to it. This was the commander’s personal decision,” the minister said.

Questions about Liubajevas’s future arose after media reports about an incident at the Kapčiamiestis border guard station area in late July. According to the reports, four border guards set up an ambush after a tunnel being dug under the state border was discovered.

The officers detained several migrants and handcuffed them, but about 20 other foreigners attacked the border guards during the detention. The officers fled, while the migrants, including those in handcuffs, crossed back into Belarus.

The State Border Guard Service reported that a tunnel had been found and that migrants had escaped, but did not disclose that the officers had been attacked. Delfi reported the incident citing sources, while Lrytas reported last week that one officer had been injured.

Liubajevas became head of the State Border Guard Service in December 2019. He was appointed to a second term at the end of 2024. Before that, he was chief adviser to the Interior Ministry’s Public Security Policy Group.