„Yes, I applied to the Department of State Security for a clearance to work with classified information (I filled in and submitted the prescribed questionnaire). By the way, I also had such a clearance when I was working in the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Lithuania“, – the Vice-Minister told the portal.
Earlier this week, after it was revealed that Gavrilovas had an account on the social network VKontakte, where he shared a playlist of songs glorifying the Soviet Union and Russia. Prime Minister Gintautas Paluckas said that he would not rule out contacting the DSS to dispel his doubts about the Deputy Minister.
However, if the information provided to him and Šadžius by the department showed that Gavrilovas was not a trustworthy person to take up a position in the leadership of the Ministry of Finance, „the issue would be resolved“, the Prime Minister said.
Jauniškis: Gavrilova's request for permission to work with classified material will be thoroughly assessed
Darius Jauniškis, Director of the State Security Department, says that Deputy Minister of Finance Valentinas Gavrilovas, who has been questioned about his attitude towards Russia, will be thoroughly assessed after he requested permission to work with classified material. According to the intelligence chief, if he is not recommended to be allowed to work with such material, it would prove that his loyalty to the state is questionable.
„Not recommending authorisation is clear evidence that there are certain questions about loyalty to the state,“ Jauniškis told Žinių Radijas on Tuesday.
„Now, the assessment period will begin. On 22 January, we received his completed questionnaire and his request to work with classified (material – ELTA). A full assessment will be made. These things are quite slippery, and we will also get an assessment from other institutions. We will answer within 40 days“, he stressed.
As ELTA reported earlier, on Monday, LRT radio reported that Deputy Finance Minister Gavrilovas had an account on the social network VKontakte where he shared songs promoting Russia, its army and the Soviet Union. The Vice-Minister assured me that he had already deleted this account.
„I was logged in in 2025 to delete the account. I had not logged in for a very long time before that. (...) I was born and grew up in Lithuania. My whole life is connected with Lithuania, and my work is exclusively for Lithuania,“ Gavrilovas told LRT Radio.
The Deputy Minister has recently received criticism and questions about the photos he shared on Facebook during Russia's so-called Victory Day.
Following the uproar in the public sphere, Gavrilov assured that, from now on, he would commemorate the end of the Second World War on 8 May with the whole of Europe.
