Colonel Donatas Škarnulis expected to lead Lithuania’s border guard

Colonel Donatas Škarnulis is expected to become head of Lithuania’s State Border Guard Service (VSAT), although Interior Minister Martynas Katelynas has not announced a decision, LRT reports, citing the news website Delfi.

Škarnulis is currently serving as the service’s acting head. Kęstutis Pauliukas, chairman of the pre-trial investigation institutions’ trade union, said the union opposes his potential appointment.

“After R. Liubajevas stepped down, we expected a reset of the system. So far, we see the opposite: time is passing and there are no fundamental changes,” Pauliukas told Delfi. He said the union believed the entire leadership team, rather than one person, should have taken responsibility for what had happened at the service.

Škarnulis did not tell Delfi whether he had been offered the post. He said his focus as acting head was ensuring that border guards performed their duties properly and that the service carried out its functions effectively. Choosing a new head, he added, was the interior minister’s responsibility.

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

Katelynas has previously said he has a candidate for the post and plans to announce a decision in early October.

In August, the news website Lrytas reported, citing sources, that an incident had taken place between border guards and migrants who emerged from a tunnel in the Lazdijai district, near the border with Belarus. One officer was reportedly beaten, while another was allegedly nearly dragged towards Belarus. Katelynas said that if the reports were confirmed, he would see no way for R. Liubajevas to remain in the post. On August 17, the minister announced that Liubajevas had decided to step down. He had led VSAT since 2019 and was appointed to a second term in 2024.