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Roundup: Lithuania's security heads confident on terrorism safety

Xinhua, January 15, 2015 Adjust font size:

The heads of Lithuanian security authorities discussed the country's readiness to fight terrorism threats after Paris shootings on Wednesday.

Officials from various security authorities took part in a closed meeting in the Seimas, the Lithuanian parliament.

After the meeting, Arturas Paulauskas, the chairman of the Lithuanian parliamentary National Security and Defense Committee, said terrorism threat in Lithuania is low, urging not to intimidate the residents.

However, Paulauskas said that security authorities must be ready to collect the information and warn the residents if needed.

"Terrorists always strike where least expected. By understanding the European context, we cannot say that we should relax, that everything here is ok," said Paulauskas to local media after the meeting.

According to the chairman, Lithuania paid little attention to terrorism threats hitherto as security authorities claimed the threats are minimal.

"One wants to blow the dust of this issue and take a look on whether we haven't lost the vigilance," said Paulauskas.

Gediminas Grina, the head of the State Security Department, urged the media to concentrate more on the society's preparedness to react to terrorism threats rather than evaluating the level of the threat. According to Grina, terrorism threat is something conditional.

Grina acknowledged that Lithuania is not capable of controlling its borders completely as it is the case in Germany and France.

"I cannot tell who have entered Lithuania five minutes ago and who left Poland. It is hard to control before we receive the information," Grina told journalists.

According to the law, all the information on possible terror attacks must be sent to the police responsible for preventing the threats and looking for suspects.

Linas Pernavas, the Police Commissioner General, also attended the meeting but was reluctant to comment on discussions at the meeting.

In a report published last spring, the State Security Department said it did not establish any groups of supporters of radical religious ideologies in Lithuania, reports BNS news agency. The report listed the threat of international terrorism in Lithuania as very low. Endit