The commission examined if the VSD collected information about Nausėda’s staff members during the previous election campaign, as well as alleged ties between the presidency and the Belarusian fertiliser business.
Nausėda spoke to reporters on Wednesday while on a visit to Širvintos. The president expressed doubt in the commission’s findings, reiterating that they were written up before a list of questions was sent to him. MPs asked him 70 questions, but he refused to provide answers.
According to the president, all of this suggests that the commission was set up around six months before the 2024 presidential election with the goal to target and discredit him.
“I regret that a number of law-abiding and well-functioning state institutions like the Special Investigation Service, the State Security Department, the Prosecutor General’s Office have become hostage of this political farce,” said the president.
Nausėda denied that he or someone else had asked Director of the VSD Darius Jauniškis to screen people from his environment.
“I could not hand out instructions to anyone because I was an ordinary citizen, unemployed Gitanas Nausėda, who decided to participate in the presidential election,” said Nausėda.
He underscored that the commission was created “on political grounds”, that the opposition refused to join it and it included just one opposition representative, MP Bakas. According to the head of state, the findings “had nothing in common with willingness to find objective truth”.
Furthermore, Nausėda denied ties to brothers Andrius and Vilius Nikitinas, linked to Belarusian fertiliser business.
“I did not interact with the brothers Nikitinas. If I understand correctly, there was some confirmed or unconfirmed fact about a member of my team. But that member from my team was no longer working at the Presidential Palace when we considered the issue of sanctions,” said Nausėda.
The head of state strongly rejected the notion that Belarusian fertiliser companies could have exerted influence. Nausėda vowed that at the European Council he represented Lithuania’s interests all these years, fighting tooth and nail for sanctions on Russia and Belarus to be as tough as possible, including fertilisers.
