Šaltenis calls ministerial years “one of the ugliest”

Writer, signatory to Lithuania’s March 11 Act and former culture minister Saulius Šaltenis has described his time in politics as “one of the ugliest,” LRT reported in an interview for its radio programme Pas Nemirą.

Šaltenis, who now spends most of the year in Spain, said Lithuania remained his home despite sometimes having to remind himself where he was after returning. He said he followed developments in Lithuania from Spain and began each morning thinking about the war in Ukraine.

“I wake up with Ukraine,” Šaltenis said, adding that he found it difficult to distance himself from the war. He said he had volunteered in the past and understood what people in the trenches were experiencing.

“If I were at least 20 years younger, it would be easier for me to be there, in Ukraine, than to watch,” he said.

Šaltenis said he was waiting for the collapse of Russia, comparing it with how he had hoped for the fall of the Soviet Union during the Soviet era.

The war has also made him reflect on Lithuania’s preparedness for defence. Šaltenis said he and his associates had discussed possible threats from Russia as early as the 1990s, and that Lithuania could have prepared better by organising training and preparing reserves.

He said he was reassured by what he saw as greater awareness among young people, including their interest in joining the Lithuanian Riflemen’s Union and contributing to the country’s defence.

Šaltenis said the threat of war was felt much less strongly in Spain. In his view, states often take defence seriously only when danger becomes direct.

He said he had found in Spain the peace that was sometimes lacking in Lithuania after the restoration of independence, as well as the opportunity to fulfil dreams of travelling that he had held since the Soviet era.

Šaltenis served as Lithuania’s culture minister from 1996 to 1999.