V. Benkunskas admits that the people of Vilnius lacked information about the curfew exercises: panic was caused – Respublika.lt

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Valdas Benkunskas. Photo of Elta.

The mayor of the capital, Valdas Benkunskas, admits that residents could have been better informed about the curfew introduction exercises that took place in Vilnius on Wednesday night. According to V. Benkunskas, the municipality planned to send additional warning messages to the residents of the districts participating in the exercise, but the National Crisis Management Center (NKVC) decided not to do so, fearing to cause panic.

The mayor of the capital, Valdas Benkunskas, admits that residents could have been better informed about the curfew introduction exercises that took place in Vilnius on Wednesday night. According to V. Benkunskas, the municipality planned to send additional warning messages to the residents of the districts participating in the exercise, but the National Crisis Management Center (NKVC) decided not to do so, fearing to cause panic.

“When people saw soldiers with guns in the streets in the evening and had no information about it, we had a lot of calls to 112 asking what was going on. It was a certain moment of panic that was fixed. We wanted to spread the information to the residents of those two areas through the Fire Protection and Rescue Department, via mobile technology. But in this case, there was a decision from the National Crisis Management Center not to panic. We can see that such a decision was wrong,” V. Benkunskas told reporters on Wednesday.

“Panic was caused and arose among the population due to the lack of proper, local information.” So maybe during the next exercise we will be able to strengthen that place, because communication is one of the essential things in order to avoid chaos, panic or any unplanned actions. We are also looking at ourselves here, so that we should strengthen the communication line,” the city manager emphasized.

The need for more active communication was also noted by the Minister of National Defense Laurynas Kasčiūnas.

“Perhaps it was necessary to inform the residents of those microdistricts and those streets more about the curfew, because there were calls to 112 when soldiers were seen on the streets. (…) This is not a reproach to the city, it’s just that some institutions thought that it would be redundant information,” said the minister.

“But all this can be solved and such problems are really minor”, said L. Kasčiūnas.

As previously announced, the exercises of the Lithuanian army and NATO allies are taking place in the capital and Kaunas on May 6-8. During the exercise, the readiness of institutions, bodies and organizations to carry out mobilization and tasks of accepting allies, requisitioning property and announcing a curfew is checked.

ELTA reminds that NATO started the largest military exercise since the Cold War in January of this year. As previously announced, the exercises are designed to simulate NATO’s response to an attack by a rival such as Russia. They will involve 50 ships, 80 aircraft and more than 1,100 combat vehicles. The military maneuvers are being carried out as NATO reorganizes its defenses following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.