Estimated read time: Less than a minute
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — At least 5,000 people have rallied in Lithuania's capital to demand an early parliamentary election after lawmakers failed to impeach one of their own for his reported ties to Russia.
A protester at Thursday's demonstration, Andrius Kazlauskas, said the small Baltic nation's parliament deliberately didn't reach the 85 votes needed to impeach Mindaugas Bastys.
Parliament's probes concluded that Bastys had communicated with Russian lobbyists and acted against Lithuanian interests. Lithuania's secret service said Bastys had personal relationships with people representing Russian state nuclear monopoly Rosatom.
Bastys resigned on Wednesday, but has denied any wrongdoing. There is no indication he is the subject of a criminal investigation.
Protesters said Bastys' resignation didn't change their grievances because they think the current parliament is the core of a bigger problem.
Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
