The January Events (Lithuanian: Sausio įvykiai) were a series of violent confrontations between the civilian population of Lithuania, supporting independence, and the Soviet Armed Forces. The events took place between 11 and 13 January 1991, after the restoration of independence by Lithuania. As a result of the Soviet military actions, 14 civilians were killed and over 140 were injured as they peacefully protested for freedom in what is known as the Vilnius massacre. The 13 January was the most violent day of the month in Lithuania and this was the bloodiest act of repression by Soviet forces since the April 9 tragedy. The events were primarily centered in the capital city Vilnius, but Soviet military activity and confrontations also occurred elsewhere in the country, including Alytus, Šiauliai, Varėna, and Kaunas.
The 13 January is the Day of the Defenders of Freedom (Lithuanian: Laisvės Gynėjų Diena) in Lithuania and it is officially observed as a commemorative day.
Background
The Baltic states, including Lithuania, were forcibly annexed by the Soviet Union in 1940. The illegal occupation was never recognized by Western powers, leading to the Baltic states' continuity.
The Republic of Lithuania declared independence from the Soviet Union on 11 March 1990 and thereafter underwent a difficult period of emergence. During March–April 1990, the Soviet Airborne Troops (VDV) occupied buildings of the Political Education and the Higher Party School where the alternative Communist Party of Lithuania, on the CPSU platform, later encamped.
The Soviet Union imposed an economic blockade between April and late June. Economic and energy shortages undermined public faith in the newly restored state. The inflation rate reached 100% and continued to increase rapidly. In January 1991, the Lithuanian government was forced to raise prices several times and this was used for organization of mass protests of the so-called "Russophone population" of the country.
During the five days preceding the killings, Soviet, Polish, and other workers at Vilnius factories protested the government's consumer goods price hikes and what they saw as ethnic discrimination. According to Human Rights Watch, the Soviet government had mounted a propaganda campaign designed to further ethnic strife. This and other actions would give the Soviets a pretext for intervention when they later would send elite armed forces and special service units for the protection of the rallied Russophone population minority.
On 8 January, the conflict between Chairman of the Parliament Vytautas Landsbergis and the more pragmatic Prime Minister Kazimira Prunskienė culminated in her resignation. Prunskienė met with Soviet Union President Mikhail Gorbachev on that day. He refused her request for assurances that military action would not be taken.
On the same day, the pro-Moscow Yedinstvo movement organized a rally in front of the Supreme Council of Lithuania. Protesters tried to storm the parliament building but were driven away by unarmed security forces using water cannons. Despite a Supreme Council vote the same day to halt price increases, the scale of protests and provocations backed by Yedinstvo and the Communist Party increased. During a radio and television address, Landsbergis called upon independence supporters to gather around and protect the main governmental and infrastructural buildings.
From 8–9 January, several special Soviet military units were flown to Lithuania (including the counter-terrorism Alpha Group and paratroopers of the 76th Guards Air Assault Division of the VDV based at Pskov). The official explanation was that this was needed to ensure constitutional order and the effectiveness of laws of the Lithuanian SSR and the Soviet Union.
On 10 January, Gorbachev addressed the Supreme Council, demanding a restoration of the constitution of the USSR in Lithuania and the revocation of "all anti-constitutional laws". He mentioned that military intervention could be possible within days. When Lithuanian officials asked for Moscow's guarantee not to send armed troops, Gorbachev did not reply.
Timeline of events
Friday 11 January 1991
In the morning, Landsbergis and Prime Minister Albertas Šimėnas were presented with another ultimatum from the "Democratic Congress of Lithuania" demanding that they comply with Gorbachev's request by 15:00 on 11 January.
- 11:50 – Soviet military units seize the National Defence Department building in Vilnius.
- 12:00 – Soviet military units surround and seize the Press House building in Vilnius. Soldiers use live ammunition against civilians. Several people are hospitalized, some with bullet wounds.
- 12:15 – Soviet paratroopers seize the regional building of the National Defence Department in Alytus.
- 12:30 – Soviet military units seize the regional building of the National Defence Department in Šiauliai.
- 15:00 – In a press conference held in the building of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Lithuania, the head of the Ideological Division Juozas Jermalavičius announces the creation of the "National Salvation Committee of Lithuanian SSR" and that from now on, it will be the only legitimate government in Lithuania.
- 16:40 – Minister of Foreign Affairs Algirdas Saudargas sends a diplomatic note to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Soviet Union in which he expresses his concerns about Soviet army violence in Lithuania.
- 21:00 – Soviet military units seize a TV re-transmission center in Nemenčinė.
- 23:00 – Soviet military units seize the dispatcher's office of the Vilnius railway station. Railway traffic is disrupted but restored several hours later.
Saturday 12 January 1991
During an overnight session of the Supreme Council, Speaker Landsbergis announced that he had tried to call Gorbachev three times, but was unsuccessful. Deputy Minister of Defense of the Soviet Union, General Vladislav Achalov, arrived in Lithuania and took control of all military operations. People from all over Lithuania started to encircle the main strategic buildings: the Supreme Council, the Radio and Television Committee, the Vilnius TV Tower, and the main telephone exchange.
- 00:30 – Soviet military units seize the base of the Lithuanian SSR Special Purpose Detachment of Police (OMON) in a suburb of Vilnius.
- 04:30 – Soviet military units unsuccessfully try to seize the Police Academy building in Vilnius.
- 11:20 – Armed Soviet soldiers attack a border-line post near Varėna.
- 14:00 – A Soviet military truck collides with a civilian vehicle in Kaunas. One person dies and three are hospitalized with serious injuries. Vilnius residents carry food to passengers in stalled trucks on strike.
- 22:00 – A column of Soviet military vehicles is spotted leaving a military base in Vilnius and moving towards the city centre. Employees of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Lithuania instruct special worker groups (druzhinas) to be ready "for special events."
- 23:00 – An unknown group of individuals who claim to be part of the National Salvation Committee declare at the Supreme Council that it is their duty to take over Lithuania to avoid an economic meltdown and a fratricidal war.
Sunday 13 January 1991
- 00:00 – Another column of military vehicles (including tanks and BMPs) is spotted leaving the military base and heading toward the TV tower.
- 01:25 – Upon arrival in the vicinity of the TV tower, tanks start to fire blank rounds.
- 01:50 – Tanks and soldiers encircle the TV tower. Soldiers fire live ammunition overhead and into civilian crowds gathered around the building. Tanks drive straight through lines of people. Fourteen people are killed in the attack, most of them shot and two crushed by tanks. One Soviet Alfa unit member (Viktor Shatskikh) is killed by friendly fire. Loudspeakers on several BMPs transmit the voice of Juozas Jermalavičius: "Broliai lietuviai, nacionalistų ir separatistų vyriausybė, kuri priešpastatė save liaudžiai, nuversta. Eikite pas savo tėvus, vaikus!" ("Brother Lithuanians! The nationalist and separatist government, which confronted the people has been overthrown! Go [home] to your parents and children!")
- 02:00 – BMPs and tanks surround the Radio and Television Committee building. Soldiers fire live ammunition into the building, over the heads of the civilian crowds. The live television broadcast was hosted by Eglė Bučelytė and later terminated. The last pictures transmitted are of a Soviet soldiers running toward the camera and switching it off.
- 02:30 – A small TV studio from Kaunas came on air unexpectedly. A technician of the family program that usually broadcast from Kaunas once a week was on the air, calling for anyone who could help to broadcast to the world in as many different languages as possible about the Soviet army and tanks killing unarmed people in Lithuania. Within an hour, the studio was filled with several university professors broadcasting in several languages. The studio received a threatening phone call from the Soviet army division of Kaunas (possibly the 7th Guards Airborne Division of the VDV). The second phone call from the Soviet army division followed shortly, with a commander stating that "they would not try to take over the studio so long as no misinformation is given". This was all broadcast live. The Kaunas TV station was using Juragiai and Sitkūnai transmitters as retranslators.
Following these two attacks, large crowds (20,000 during the night, more than 50,000 in the morning) of independence supporters gathered around the Supreme Council building. People started building anti-tank barricades and setting up defences inside surrounding buildings. Provisional chapels were set up inside and outside the Supreme Council building. Members of the crowd prayed, sang, and shouted pro-independence slogans. Despite columns of military trucks, BMPs, and tanks moving into the vicinity of the Supreme Council, Soviet military forces retreated instead of attacking.
Among the members of the barricade were two basketball players who would later play for the Lithuanian national team, Gintaras Einikis and Alvydas Pazdrazdis.
List of victims
In all, thirteen Lithuanians were killed by the Soviet army. An additional civilian died at the scene due to a heart attack, and one Soviet soldier was killed by friendly fire. All victims, except the Soviet soldier, were awarded the Order of the Cross of Vytis (the Knight) on 15 January 1991.
- Loreta Asanavičiūtė (b. 1967) – the only female victim. Worked as a seamstress in a factory. Died in hospital after she fell under a tank. Noted for her shy character, she became the most famous victim.
- Virginijus Druskis (b. 1969) – student at Kaunas University of Technology. Was shot in the chest.
- Darius Gerbutavičius (b. 1973) – student at a vocational school. Was shot five times (legs, arms and back).
- Rolandas Jankauskas (b. 1969) – student. He was hit in the face by an explosive device. His mother was a native Russian from Altai Krai.
- Rimantas Juknevičius (b. 1966) – native of Marijampolė, senior at Kaunas University of Technology. He was shot.
- Alvydas Kanapinskas (b. 1952) – worker at a Kėdainiai biochemical factory. He was shot.
- Algimantas Petras Kavoliukas (b. 1939) – butcher at a grocery store. He was wounded by a rubber bullet on 11 January 1991, when he protested against the Soviet troops near the Press House. On 13 January, he was hit by a tank. According to some witnesses, he was the first victim killed that night.
- Vytautas Koncevičius (b. 1941) – shopman. He was shot and died in the hospital about a month after the attacks. Had been deported to Siberia with his family in 1945.
- Vidas Maciulevičius (b. 1966) – locksmith. Died from bullet wounds to the face, neck, and spine.
- Titas Masiulis (b. 1962) – Kaunas resident who was shot in the chest.
- Alvydas Matulka (b. 1955) – Rokiškis resident who died from a heart attack.
- Apolinaras Juozas Povilaitis (b. 1937) – metalworker at a Lithuanian Academy of Sciences' institute. He died from bullet wounds to the heart, right lung, upper arm, and thigh.
- Ignas Šimulionis (b. 1973) – high school student, a friend of Gerbutavičius. Was shot in the head.
- Vytautas Vaitkus (b. 1943) – plumber at a meat plant. Died from bullet wounds to the chest.
- Viktor Viktorovich Shatskikh (b. 1961) – Lieutenant Group 'A' Service Office MTO 7 of the KGB. Mortally wounded by a 5.45mm bullet passing through a slit in his body armour, which originated from a ricochet bullet shot by a fellow soldier inside the Lithuanian National Radio and Television building. He was awarded the Order of Red Banner posthumously.
12 of the 14 victims were buried in the Antakalnis Cemetery in Vilnius. Titas Masiulis was buried in Petrašiūnai Cemetery in his native Kaunas, and Rimantas Juknevičius was buried in the Marijampolė cemetery.