Defence ministry urges government to reject KGB disclosure plan

Lithuania’s Ministry of National Defence has urged the government to reject proposed amendments to publish information about former KGB collaborators who did not confess, saying the changes would add no value. LRT reported that the ministry supports the public’s right to know about people who may have influenced state affairs through cooperation with former Soviet special services.

Under the current law, information about secret cooperation with the KGB is published in the Register of Legal Acts if a person fails to confess within six months of the start of the registration and confession process, or knowingly provides false information or conceals information about themselves, others or the activities of the special services.

The ministry’s draft assessment says the existing law already provides for the publication of information about people who did not confess. It argues that the proposed amendments would therefore create no added value and would not meet the principles of legislative expediency and efficiency.

Remigijus Žemaitaitis, leader of the Nemunas Dawn parliamentary group, proposed publishing information about people who were registered but did not confess and were entered into a register. The ministry says the law does not require such people to be entered into a register: the existing register contains only people who confessed voluntarily and provided all the information they knew about the special services’ activities. The proposed amendments would thus require information to be collected when there is no existing obligation to do so, the ministry said.

Parliament began considering Žemaitaitis’s proposal on June 10, 2025. Seventy-nine members of parliament supported it at the initial presentation, eight opposed it and seven abstained. The amendments propose that information about registered people who did not confess be made public from January 1, 2026.

Parliament is also considering separate amendments, also proposed by Žemaitaitis, to declassify former KGB collaborators from 2028. The proposal began its consideration in December last year and was supported by 51 members of parliament at the initial presentation, with one opposing and two abstaining.