Katelynas to nominate Škarnulis as border guard chief

Interior Minister Martynas Katelynas said on Monday he plans to nominate acting State Border Guard Service (VSAT) chief Colonel Donatas Škarnulis to lead the agency. LRT reported that the minister would submit Škarnulis’s candidacy to the government in the near future.

Speaking after a meeting with Polish Interior Minister Marcin Kierwinski, Katelynas said he had settled on Škarnulis some time ago, but that certain checks needed to be completed.

Katelynas said he wanted the service, which he described as having a distinct role, to be led by someone who had risen through its own ranks. He also said reports of officers being detained showed the service could “clean itself from within”. The minister expects changes among the deputy chiefs and said the service might operate differently under new leadership.

Škarnulis began his career as a border police specialist in 2000 and worked at the State Security Department from 2002 to 2005. He joined VSAT in 2005 and was appointed head of a unit in its Operational Activities Board the following year. From 2018, he led the service’s Criminal Investigation Board. In 2025, he became deputy to then-chief Rustamas Liubajevas.

Liubajevas announced on August 17 that he would leave the post, which he had held since 2019. He was appointed to a second term in 2024. Before his resignation, Lrytas reported, citing sources, that border guards and migrants who had emerged from a tunnel had clashed in Lazdijai district, near the Belarusian border. The report said one officer had been beaten and another had been dragged towards Belarus. Katelynas said at the time that, if the information was confirmed, he would not see a way for Liubajevas to remain in office.