LITHUANIA: A Lithuanian parliamentary probe into claims that President Rolandas Paksas's office has links to Russian mobsters said yesterday he was a threat to national security, paving the way for his impeachment by parliament.
The report, to be discussed in parliament today, was made public after weeks of political turmoil over the scandal in the Baltic country, due to enter the European Union and NATO next year.
"Considering the president's status and responsibility, his vulnerability poses a threat to national security," said the report, copies of which were handed to reporters in parliament.
Prime Minister Algirdas Brazauskas, head of a centre-left majority coalition who is seen as holding the key to Mr Paksas's future, sought to remain neutral before the report was released.
But yesterday he finally came off the fence and told Mr Paksas to quit.
"If I was the president, I would resign," he told reporters late yesterday, but added: "I agree with the commission's conclusions in general, except for one thing: there is not a threat to national security." The head of the inquiry, Aloyzas Sakalas, also said it was time for Mr Paksas to assume responsibility and resign.
Mr Paksas denies wrongdoing and has repeatedly refused to leave. Two officials at his office said he had no plans to quit, even if impeached, and the pressure for him to resign reached fever-pitch.
Mr Sakalas said the inquiry had concluded that Mr Paksas bore personal responsibility as he had leaked sensitive information and allowed a firm suspected of being a front for Russian intelligence to influence his decisions.
"We determined several instances when information was leaked from the president's office, and one time when information was leaked directly by the president," Mr Sakalas said.
The report linked Mr Paksas's office with a Russian firm called Almax, which Lithuanian media have described as a Russian public-relations firm active in an election campaign a year ago.
"The Russian-registered Almax, suspected of being tied to Russian special services, influenced the president's office in seeking to control political processes in Lithuania," it said.
Thousands marched in Vilnius on Sunday in a second weekend of protests demanding that Mr Paksas resign.
A secret service report last month said Mr Paksas's office and some aides were linked to Russian gangsters, plunging the former stunt pilot into a political crisis that analysts said was bound to end with a crash.
"The commission determined that the security report is accurate," Mr Sakalas said.
The leader of the Liberal Democrats, Mr Paksas emerged as the surprise winner in a presidential election run-off in January.