Lithuanian PM faces criticism over delayed response to massive data breach

The Lithuanian Social Democratic Party (LSDP) has defended Prime Minister Inga Ruginienė amid growing criticism over her government’s delayed public disclosure of a major data breach at the Centre of Registers, *LRT* reports.

President Gitanas Nausėda has repeatedly questioned why authorities waited until late May to inform the public about the theft of over 600,000 property registry records—including personal identification numbers—despite the government being aware of the incident as early as April 3.

LSDP leader Mindaugas Sinkevičius countered that scrutiny should instead focus on the Prosecutor General’s Office, which led the investigation. “Now they’re trying to say the prime minister and ministers failed to inform the public,” Sinkevičius wrote on social media. “But should the one who launched the investigation have briefed society? In high-profile cases, we usually see prosecutors and officials holding press conferences.”

He posed a rhetorical question: “Whose responsibility is this now? Should the prime minister have become the Prosecutor General’s press secretary?”

The Prosecutor General’s Office is investigating unauthorized access to the property registry, allegedly carried out through compromised Migration Department accounts. Nausėda has dismissed claims that procedural constraints justified the delay, calling the breach a “national security scandal” and rejecting excuses that authorities waited for a public verification tool to be developed.

Opposition lawmakers have initiated a parliamentary inquiry, leaving open the possibility of pursuing political accountability based on its findings. Ruginienė and Economy Minister Aušrinė Armonaitė have acknowledged learning of the breach on April 3 but maintained they did not immediately recognize its scale.