Russia has asked Lithuania to help in its search for deserters from the former Soviet army going back more than 20 years.<br /><br />Moscow wants to prosecute young Lithuanians who went ‘absent without leave’ following their country’s declaration of independence in 1990.<br /><br />Many of the former Soviet conscripts like Gintaras Patackas are now in their forties:<br /><br />“I served in Baku ( Azerbaijan) at the time. so one day my uncle arrived and said you need to go back to Lithuania. So we made a plan and got back…I just ran away.”<br /><br />Lithuania’s prosecutor general’s office says the same request from Moscow has been made before. <br /><br />Spokesperson Elena Martinoniene explains:<br /><br />“About 10 years ago a similar request was received by the prosecutor’s office and it was considered at the time but the decision as now was taken to refuse to grant legal assistance.”<br /><br />An estimated 1500 young people refused service in the Soviet Army after March 1990.<br /><br />Russia’s request is being seen as tit-for-tat after the recent arrest of three of its former soldiers accused by Lithuania of taking part the Soviet Union’s initial crackdown.
