ENGLISH – ПО-РУССКИ

On June 26 Lithuania’s former President and former Prime Minister, Algirdas Brazauskas, died at the age of 77 after a serious illness.

In the late 1980ies he became the chief of the Communist Party of Lithuania, which under his leadership supported the aspiration of the republic to become independent. “Either the Party has to radically change itself to get closer to the people, or it must liquidate itself,” he told The New York Times in 1990. In March 1990 Lithuania declared independence from Moscow and it was the beginning of the break-up of the Soviet Union.

Brazauskas was the country’s second-most popular politician in June after current President Dalia Grybauskaite, according to an opinion poll conducted in by Vilmorus for Valstybe.

In June 2010 Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev awarded him the Order of Honour for his significant contribution to cooperation between Russia and Lithuania and good neighbourly relations.

– “President Brazauskas led Lithuania through a period of remarkable change and transformation. He played a crucial role in the independence movement that liberated his country and inspired people all over the world.

As the first president of a free Lithuania, and later as prime minister, he worked to deliver on the promise of democracy. Under his leadership, Lithuania joined NATO and the European Union and developed a strong partnership with the United States. President Brazauskas was a champion for his nation and his people”, US Secretary of State, Hillary Rodham Clinton.

– “The background in which he lived and worked, demanded to conform to Soviet conditions, but he had never forgot he was a Lithuanian, and he was a patriot of Lithuania,” the leader of the Belarussian Social Democratic Hramada,  Stanislau Shushkevich.

Article – The New York Times, 1990. Article – The New York Times, 2010. Article – Deutsche Welle, 2010.

ПО-РУССКИ

Выступая в эфире радиостанции “Эхо Москвы” в 2008 г., Бразаускас рассказывал о том, как Литва становилась независимым государством.

ПРОГРАММА – “Эхо Москвы”