Lithuanian government rejects plan to name unconfessed former KGB agents
Wednesday 28th October 2026 on 13:30 in
Lithuania
Lithuania’s government on Wednesday rejected a proposal to publish the names of former secret KGB agents who did not confess to collaborating with the Soviet security services, LRT reported. The Ministry of National Defence’s opinion will be submitted to the Seimas, Lithuania’s parliament.
The proposal, put forward by Remigijus Žemaitaitis, leader of the Nemunas Dawn party, would require information about registered but unconfessed people to be made public from January 1, 2026. The Seimas approved the bill for further consideration on June 10 last year.
The ministry said the goal of disclosing the identities of former secret collaborators who had not confessed was justified, but the proposed measures were unsuitable. Current law already provides for their disclosure, it said. The bill would also create an obligation to provide information that authorities are not required to collect.
A list of former career KGB employees is published on the kgbveikla.lt website. The names of agents who confessed are currently classified.
A law that took effect on February 1, 2000, allowed former employees and secret collaborators of the KGB and other Soviet special services to confess and register with a special commission. Information about those who confessed was initially classified for 15 years. In June 2015, the Seimas extended the period to 75 years.
The law does not guarantee absolute secrecy for those who confessed. If they run for or are appointed to posts including president, parliamentarian, municipal councillor, government member, judge or prosecutor, their confession is no longer considered a state secret and must be made public.
Žemaitaitis and members of his parliamentary group have also proposed ending the 75-year secrecy period for former secret KGB collaborators who confessed. The government gave that proposal a negative opinion.
Žemaitaitis previously claimed that about 400 former KGB employees and secret collaborators work in Lithuania’s public sector, but did not explain the source of the figure. From 1991 to 1992, 1,589 people confessed to collaborating with Soviet secret services to a temporary commission of the Supreme Council.