Lithuania’s President Gets $475,000 Peace Prize From Norwegian Public
Lithuanian President Vytautas Landsbergis on Monday received a peace prize collected from the Norwegian public. The prize came on the first anniversary of the Baltic republic’s declaration of independence.
The $475,000 award was collected after Norway awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev last fall.
Inge Loenning of the University of Oslo began raising funds for the prize in January after Lithuanians denounced the Nobel award to Gorbachev. They said the Soviet president was far from peaceful when he ordered military maneuvers and imposed an economic embargo to quash independence moves in the republic.
Landsbergis said he would donate the prize money to children’s homes, invalids, education and the support of cultural figures.
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