Committee moves debate on former KGB collaborators behind closed doors

Lithuania’s parliamentary Committee on State Administration and Local Authorities has decided to continue discussions about declassifying information on former KGB collaborators behind closed doors, LRT reported, citing ELTA.

The committee returned to the issue after a break. Conservative MP Valdas Rakutis proposed moving the debate to a closed format, saying that discussing classified matters publicly could harm the country.

“If there are questions, we should address them in a different format,” Rakutis said at the committee meeting. “The things that are secret should remain secret.”

Democrat Domas Griškevičius also described the issue as sensitive, warning that unfriendly states could exploit it. He said the debate focused on people who had admitted to collaborating with the KGB, rather than those who had not confessed and whose identities might still be unknown.

MP Vitalijus Šeršniovas asked why the committee was not examining what he called the other side of the issue. He raised questions about the length of the classification period, how the “secret” and “top secret” labels had been assigned, and whether influence might have played a role in the adoption of new laws on the matter. He called on the committee to discuss these issues in depth before making a decision.

State Security Department representative Algirdas Bložė told the committee that information about cooperation with the KGB remained sensitive and relevant. He said the state had classified the information for 75 years because its disclosure could endanger people’s lives and health.

Bložė said disclosure could make it possible to identify people who had not confessed and expose them to pressure from unfriendly states that may have retained the information. He added that those who had confessed were less vulnerable because they had provided information about their cooperation and the KGB’s activities, aims and tasks, and had been advised what to do if anyone tried to influence them.

ELTA reported that parliament began considering amendments proposed by Remigijus Žemaitaitis, leader of the Nemuno aušra party, in December last year. The amendments would declassify information about former KGB collaborators from 2028. They received 51 votes in favour, one against and two abstentions at the initial stage.

Žemaitaitis has proposed repealing a 1999 law covering the registration and accounting of former KGB collaborators, their confessions and the protection of those who came forward. He proposed that the changes take effect on January 1, 2028.