The Statesmen, or Statesmen Clan (, "valstybininkų" klanas, generally written with quote marks) is a conspiracy theory which claims that a deep state of unelected officials, based in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the State Security Department of Lithuania (VSD), seeks to influence the actions of elected officials, protect each other in power and take control of Lithuania. The conspiracy theory emerged in 2006, after the death of VSD officer Vytautas Pociūnas in Belarus, who the theory claims was a whistleblower of the clan's activities. The conspiracy theory was promoted by politicians in the Homeland Union (TS-LKD).
Though primarily connected with investigations from 2006 to 2010, the theory has experienced a revival since 2019, after opponents of the Homeland Union claimed that the "clan" remains active and is pressuring the Šimonytė Cabinet.
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According to Valdas Vasiliauskas, editor-in-chief of Lietuvos žinios (later a Member of the Seimas for the Way of Courage party), the Statesmen are "a clan-like group of persons connected by constant mutual relations, distribution of roles and tasks among group members", it is a highly organized and hierarchical organization (Vasiliauskas identified Albinas Januška as its leader), has control of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the State Security Department, the President of Lithuania, the military, police, the political sciences faculty of Vilnius University and is connected with the courts, political parties and the media.
Pociūnas was generally described as a whistleblower, a VSD official who was aware of the conspiracy and was killed for attempting to reveal it to the media. The specific information differed. In 2008, Vasiliauskas claimed that Pociūnas investigated the connections between the "Statesmen" and the energy company Dujotekana, as well as the company's influence in government institutions. Later, in 2014, he claimed that Pociūnas was aware about the CIA black site in Antaviliai, near Vilnius, and the alleged bribes to VSD officials which allowed its creation.
It had been alleged that the "Statesmen" were responsible for the fall of Brazauskas Cabinet II and convinced members of the Labour Party to support the formation of the Kirkilas Cabinet. Viktor Uspaskich accused "statesmen" of attempting to destroy his political career and his party via Labour's "dark accounting" case. Rolandas Paksas, President of Lithuania impeached in 2004, claimed that he opposed the "statesmen" during his presidency and was removed for refusing to allow the establishment of the Antaviliai CIA black site. In 2007, he claimed that "statesmen" conspired to raise attention towards LGBT rights in Lithuania to distract attention from their case.
According to Rasa Juknevičienė, Member of the Seimas from the Homeland Union, the deep state emerged after the 1998 Russian financial crisis and the 2000 Lithuanian parliamentary election, which spurned a group of individuals to "take the reins of the state to their hands" with Russian financial support. Vasiliauskas claimed that the conspiracy formed as early as 1990, within the deputies of the Supreme Council of Lithuania, also known as the Reconstituent Seimas, including members of the former Communist Party of Lithuania. Antanas Valionis claimed that "TS-LKD campaign against the so-called Statesmen" could have been motivated by the struggles of business groups in the energy sector in 2000–2006 and VSD investigations into previous unexplained violent acts, such as the Bražuolė bridge bombing in 1994 and the bombing of the editorial office of Lietuvos rytas in 1995. According to the politician, the TS-LKD interpreted this as a conspiracy against them.
History Death of Vytautas Pociūnas Though the pejorative term "valstybininkas" ("Statesman", meaning an official who belongs to a group of influential figures seeking personal gain) has been used in Lithuanian media since at least 2005, the conspiracy theory emerged after Vytautas Pociūnas, a VSD officer stationed in Brest, Belarus, was found dead after falling out of the window of Hotel Intourist on 23 August 2006. The death was ruled an accident, but it was rumoured that Pociūnas was killed for his alleged investigations into a deep state within the Lithuanian government and institutions, and their anti-state activities. It became more prominent after an investigation into Pociūnas' death by the State Prosecutor's Office was closed in late 2006 after a very quick investigation (including a claim that Pociūnas fell out of a window while urinating, which was interpreted as a smear campaign), and after an Ekstra magazine interview of VSD deputy director Darius Jurgelevičius in September 2006, in which he commented on the public interest in the Pociūnas case:
Numerous protests were held in support of Pociūnas and his surviving family, and the final annual commemoration of his death was held in 2016. The death was also followed by an investigation by the Seimas National Security and Defense Committee (Lithuanian: Lietuvos Respublikos Seimo nacionalinio saugumo ir gynybos komitetas, NSGK) into VSD activity, initiated by Homeland Union Member of the Seimas Rasa Juknevičienė.
2006 Seimas investigation On 4 December 2006, NSGK published their conclusion on the activities of the State Security Department. 33 active (in December 2006) and 4 former VSD officials, Seimas members Andrius Kubilius, Jurgis Razma, Antanas Valionis, former secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Albinas Januška, former Director General of VSD, ambassador to Spain Mečys Laurinkus, consul general in Grodno Daiva Mockuvienė, television journalist Joana Lapėnienė, Vytautas Pociūnas's wife Liudvika Pociūnienė and brother Algimantas Pociūnas, and signatory of the Act of March 11 Algirdas Endriukaitis testified before the committee.
The investigation was controversial. Januška resigned from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, claiming that he is unable to answer public criticism while keeping state secrets, but was immediately reappointed as advisor to Gediminas Kirkilas. NSGK members unsuccessfully demanded certificates from the VSD related to possible corrupt connections of high-ranking officials. Refused, the politicians turned to President Valdas Adamkus hoping to convince him to temporarily suspend the then head of the VSD, Arvydas Pocius, whose decision not to provide information was assessed as a mockery of the Seimas. However, the president refused to meet with members of the Seimas. During the investigation, independent journalists published information regarding the suspects' alleged membership in the KGB and connections with the Russian state energy company Gazprom.
In the committee's opinion, Pociūnas was removed from his previous duties within the VSD and assigned to Belarus in order to stop corruption investigations he was conducting in the transport and energy sectors. In addition, the committee stated that
The committee's opinion statement first coined the term "statesman" to refer to individuals allegedly involved, to Albinas Januška, without a negative connotation.
The term "statesmen" was originally claimed by the accused politicians and civil servants themselves, to express their patriotism. Mečys Laurinkus commented on the existence of a group which "formulated tasks" for the State Security Department on 30 October 2007:
This was taken by various politicians in the country to be a confirmation of the existence of the conspiracy, and Member of the Seimas Algimantas Matulevičius (Civic Democracy Party), in charge of a parliamentary investigation into VSD activity, described it as an unconstitutional act. Laurinkus later claimed that he does not remember the existence of such a scandal.
Renewed criminal investigation Vytautas Pociūnas' widow, Liudvika Pociūnienė, requested the reopening of the terminated investigation in November 2006, claiming that it lacked detail and was not impartial. She was joined by Member of the Seimas Saulius Pečeliūnas (TS-LKD), who formed a nonpartisan civil society organization, Rally of Citizens (Lithuanian: Piliečių santalka), claiming to combat perceived cliques in the government and a "nomenklatura more powerful than the law". Both complaints were dismissed by the General Prosecutor's Office in July 2007 on lacking grounds.
Pociūnienė received support throughout the political spectrum. Vytautas Landsbergis, former leader of the Homeland Union, asserted that the conclusions of the prosecutor's office that Pociūnas died in an accident were "worthless", and the New Union (Social Liberals) lodged a demand that the General Prosecutor's Office should make the materials of the investigation file public. On 17 August 2007, Prime Minister Gediminas Kirkilas announced the formation of a special work committee which would investigate the circumstances of Pociūnas' death, led by publicist Vytautas Ališauskas and staffed by Seimas and European Parliament members from several political parties. New forensic and medical experts were hired after Pociūnas' widow and the press criticized the negligence of the forensic experts during the initial investigation.
The renewed investigation was slow and controversial. It was criticized by President Valdas Adamkus as a threat to the independence of the prosecution system. The committee could only meet in 2008 due to conflicting schedules of the committee members (including two EP members, who worked in Brussels and could only participate on Fridays), and several of the committee's members resigned before the first meeting due to this inactivity. Meanwhile, at the order of court, the General Prosecutor's Office renewed investigation into the case, which doubled the work of the committee. It was shut down in March 2008. An independent investigation commission was organized by Sąjūdis in July 2008. Vygaudas Ušackas alleged that asking for Landsbergis's support to be selected as Minister of Foreign Affairs in October 2008, he was requested to "eliminate the Statesmen element administered by Albinas Januška".
On 24 February 2009, the case was closed again and the General Prosecutor's Office reaffirmed that Pociūnas' death was an accident. Liudvika Pociūnienė once again protested the verdict. On 9 June 2009, the Vilnius District Court ordered the prosecutors to reopen the case a third time. Under court order, the case was also reclassified as a murder case. After investigations into official documents, over 100 witnesses questioned and experiments organized in the Inturist hotel in Brest, the case was closed as an accident again on 1 February 2013. Pociūnienė requested the case to be reopened again, but her request was dismissed.
2008 "List of the Statesmen" publication On 26 March 2008, an article titled "Lithuania Has Been Taken Over by the Statesmen Clan?" (Lithuanian: "Lietuvą užvaldė „valstybininkų" klanas?") was published on the newspaper Lietuvos žinios. This article compiled a list of 43 civil servants, diplomats, advisors of then-president Valdas Adamkus, VSD employees, businessmen, political scientists, and members of the Seimas, who were allegedly members of a single hierarchical structured "clan" which seeks to take over the state. According to editor-in-chief Valdas Vasiliauskas, it was published under a pseudonym to "protect the author from possible retaliation".
In the same month, Mečys Laurinkus published an open letter for Vytautas Landsbergis, requesting him to use his authority to end "the idiotic persecution of some civil servants that has been going on for almost two years now". Laurinkus also asked the leadership of TS-LKD to mention a single crime committed by the alleged "statesmen".