Russian speakers a risk compared to pro-Western Filipinos
Dovile Sakaliene made the comments on Wednesday after meeting with Hans Cacdac, the Philippines Secretary of Migrant Workers, to discuss labor migration. The defense minister, however, used the opportunity to warn that an 'unprecedented number of Russian-speaking migrants from post-Soviet states raise national security concerns for Lithuania.'
Sakaliene praised Filipino workers as 'English speaking, Catholic, pro-Western… famous for high skills, great work ethics, & willingness to learn the language of the host country.'
About 5% of Lithuania's population, or roughly 141,000 people, identify as ethnic Russians, with around 190,000 people saying Russian is their native language. Meanwhile, over 60% of the total population is Russian-speaking, mostly due to the Soviet legacy.
Lithuania's Migration Department last year reported over 227,000 foreign residents, over 80,000 of whom are Ukrainians, followed by approximately 60,000 Belarusians and 15,000 Russians.
Only 774 Filipino citizens held residence permits in the country at the start of this year, though that figure has more than tripled since 2023.
Lithuania has for years sought to sever cultural ties with Russia, with the efforts intensifying after the escalation of the Ukraine conflict. Last year, Education Minister Gintautas Jakstas proposed phasing out Russian-language secondary schooling, arguing that Lithuania should not use the languages of 'unfriendly countries' in its classrooms.
The idea, however, has faced pushback, particularly from Vaiva Vezelyte-Pokladova, the head of the National Minorities Policy Analysis, who warned against 'marginalization of one nationality.'
This spring, Lithuanian authorities issued a report listing Russia, Belarus and China, as top security threats. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova mocked the designation, quipping that the document 'forgot to mention holy water and wooden stakes' as potential threats. Moscow has repeatedly dismissed speculation that it is planning to attack NATO, stating that it has no interest in doing so.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Russia Today
4 hours ago
- Russia Today
Putin is ‘mocking' Trump
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski has claimed Russian President Vladimir Putin is 'mocking' his US counterpart Donald Trump's peace initiatives. The top Polish diplomat took to X on Friday to respond to a series of overnight Russian missile strikes on Ukrainian drone production facilities, an airfield and an oil refinery, which Moscow said was a response to 'terrorist attacks by the Kiev regime.' . 'President Trump, Putin is mocking your peace efforts. Please restore supplies of anti-aircraft ammunition to Ukraine and impose tough new sanctions on the aggressor,' Sikorski wrote, complaining that a Russian strike had damaged the Polish embassy compound in Kiev. Ukraine's military reported that Russia launched over 330 drones in what was described as the largest single drone offensive to date. With the addition of missile strikes, the total number of projectiles reached approximately 550, Ukrainian Air Force spokesperson Yury Ignat estimated. Moscow says it never targets non-military targets and attributes collateral damage to Ukrainian air defenses and Kiev's alleged propensity to station military assets in civilian areas. The US has paused certain weapons deliveries to Ukraine to preserve its own strategic reserves. Trump clarified on Thursday that there was no complete freeze on military aid while announcing that he and Putin had held a phone call, which the US president characterized as disappointing. Kiev and its Western backers, including Poland, continue to press Washington to expand sanctions on Russia, boost military support for Ukraine, while hoping Trump will continue to pick up the considerable financial burden arming Ukraine places on the US budget. One of their key demands is that Moscow agree to an unconditional ceasefire lasting at least a month. Russia has rejected that proposal, describing it as an attempt to allow Ukrainian forces to regroup. During peace talks in Istanbul last month, Moscow proposed a conditional truce offering two possible frameworks: one requiring Ukrainian troop withdrawal from all Russian territories; and the other, mandating a halt to Ukrainian mobilization and suspension of Western military aid. Both were rejected.
Russia Today
4 hours ago
- Russia Today
Trump eases off Russia sanctions – but the EU is too eager to strangle itself
Looks like Washington is about to steal the EU's lunch. Again. The Trump administration just lifted sanctions on a Russian-led nuclear project in Hungary, specifically one run by Moscow's atomic energy titan, Rosatom. 'The administration of President Trump has lifted this sanction. This made it possible to guarantee the safety of Hungary's energy supply in the long term. Finally, there is a kind of presidential administration in the United States which respects the reality of the map, takes it into account,' said Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto. 'We are not a country with a large number of oil and natural gas factories surrounded by dry land. Thus, our sustainable, cheap and safe electricity supply can only be provided by nuclear energy.' Translation: 'Listen up, you overcaffeinated Brussels bureaucrats running this group project from hell. We were just fine running on Russian oil and gas until you snatched it away like a juice box from a toddler. Now you're scolding us for not pulling new energy out of thin air? Fine. We're going nuclear. With Russia.' Enter Paks 2, Hungary's next-gen nuclear project, pronounced 'Paksh' as in 'Paksh me another reactor, Vladimir.' This Rosatom-led deal was frozen under Biden-era sanctions. Now with Trump back, Hungary's firing it up again. Hungary's original Paks plant already supplies half the country's electricity. Paks 2 will boost that to 70% by the 2030s and replace 3.5 billion cubic meters of gas annually – or enough to power Brussels' virtue-signaling and moral-outrage generators for a week. It would also slash Hungary's carbon emissions by 17 million tons, which theoretically should earn Budapest a climate gold star from Brussels. But a few weeks back, Hungary smelled another bad idea brewing in Brussels. This time, it was sanctions on nuclear fuel. Because when you're already dealing with a self-imposed gas crisis, the next logical step is obviously to kneecap your nuclear options, too. 'If the European Commission and Brussels banned Central European countries, including Hungary, from purchasing fuel from Russia, this would have tragic consequences not only for Hungary, but for the entire European energy market,' Szijjarto warned back in May of the nuclear fuel side-eye. Meanwhile, in Brussels, EU leaders have been busy crafting their 18th round of Russia sanctions. That's right – 18. The sanctions now have more sequels than the Fast & Furious movie franchise. At this rate, someone should build a sanctions-themed roller coaster and amusement park. Then it could just stay closed under the pretext that it's too expensive to power. And while EU politicians perform their best moral-grandstanding monologues on the world stage, European companies are sneaking around backstage making nuclear deals with Russia anyway. Leading the pack is France's Framatome, which is co-partnering with Rosatom on the very same Paks 2 project. Framatome's role has actually expanded thanks to Germany kneecapping itself, as has become routine. The Greens in the previous coalition government blocked Siemens Energy's involvement. Just what German industry needed – another self-inflicted wound. And Framatome isn't just supplying the process control systems for Rosatom. The two have also signed a broader deal to produce nuclear fuel – in Germany. Don't mess this up, Berlin! Spoiler alert: Odds are pretty good that it probably will. If EU sanctions kill this Franco-Russian partnership, it's Germany that takes yet another hit. Also, you have to wonder why exactly Washington would do the EU a favor here. The US sees Europe as a competitor on the global economic stage. Maybe lifting sanctions on the Russian-led Paks 2 project is a strategic way of letting American nuclear giant Westinghouse steal Europe's lunch, just like it did when the EU was egged on to sanction its own Russian gas supply – and replace it with American LNG. Back in March, Szijjarto met with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and 'discussed the possibilities for developing Hungarian-US energy cooperation, with nuclear energy as the primary area of interest,' Szijjarto wrote on Facebook. 'We are interested in developing this technology in a partnership with Westinghouse,' he added. So maybe Washington dropping sanctions on Paks 2 is less about Hungary and more about making it OK to date Russia again – so Washington can swoop in and steal Europe's date to the prom. But you wouldn't know any of this listening to the Eurodolts running the show. America is eyeing a European industrial asset, and Brussels' reaction is apparently to consider retreating to a monastery of moral anti-Russian purity so Washington can have its way. 'The European Union is also expected to adopt an 18th sanctions package in the next few days. Unprecedented in its ambition and the measures it contains in the financial and energy sectors,' said French President Emmanuel Macron in late June. Hey buddy, you do realize that if those sanctions extend to nuclear fuel – which is a serious consideration based on the Financial Times headline from June 15, 'EU seeks to sever nuclear energy ties with Russia' – then your own country's nuclear industry is about to take a hit through Framatome, right? 'Politically, we must keep up the pressure on Russia to engage in serious talks, starting with a real ceasefire. And therefore our 18th sanctions package aims to do that. We should be in a position to have an agreed package soon,' said Ursula von der Leyen, European Commission president and de facto Queen of the EU. Sounds like the EU has the gun aimed squarely at its own foot. Their finger is just wobbling a little on the trigger. Apparently they're struggling to decide if nuclear should ultimately be included in the latest sanctions. Clearly, Queen Ursula has lost the plot. Maybe it's because she lives in a room next to her office – sorry, her royal chambers– and doesn't have to pay a power bill. Unlike everyone else in the EU trying to choose between groceries and heating. Hungary and Slovakia have been trying to block this latest genius EU move to jack up living costs, yet again. Because someone has to, given that the rest are too busy bowing to the establishment. So now the real question: will the EU finally get out of its own way and follow Washington's lead in thawing relations with Russia? Or will it just keep tripping over its own shoelaces while pretending that it's performing a brilliantly choreographed ballet and mistaking Swan Dive for Swan Lake?
Russia Today
4 hours ago
- Russia Today
Baltic state's president rejects bill targeting country's largest Christian church
Estonia's president, Alar Karis, has for the second time refused to support a controversial law targeting the nation's largest Christian denomination – the Estonian Christian Orthodox Church (ECOC) – which he claims violates the Baltic State's constitution. The bill that was initially passed by lawmakers back in April is aimed at barring religious organizations from having ties with foreign bodies deemed a security threat. It would prohibit local churches from having ties or economic relations with such bodies enshrined in foundational documents or charters. Legislation seeking to bar religious entities from being governed by foreign bodies or leaders deemed a threat was dropped after Karis opposed the bill in April. He maintains, however, that the changes were not sufficient enough. The bill 'disproportionally limits the freedom of congregations and religion,' Karis said on Thursday, criticizing the definition of a 'threat' in the legislation as extremely 'vague.' Tallinn has 'other effective means' to combat what he called foreign influence and such 'extensive interference' into people's religious life is not needed. Lawmakers have openly admitted that they sought to exert control 'over the church teachings and religious rituals,' he claimed. The president's decision drew criticism from Estonian Interior Minister Igor Taro, who claimed the bill was aimed at protecting the country's 'security' and would not lead to 'a ban on Orthodox Christianity or any other religion.' The ECOC has repeatedly expressed its concerns over the legislation. In June, it warned that the bill interfered 'disproportionately' with the internal life of religious associations even after its initial version was amended. The church had previously been required to revise its charter and remove any mention of the Moscow Patriarchate, despite maintaining historic and canonical ties with the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC), following the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022. The ROC has previously condemned the draft law as discriminatory against Estonia's 250,000 Orthodox believers, stressing that the ECOC has never engaged in politics or jeopardized public safety. Around 16% of Estonians identify as Orthodox Christians and 8% as Lutherans, according to government data.
