In Lithuania, January 12 and 13 are remembered for events from 35 years ago, when, in one of the last attempts to keep the Baltic states from regaining independence, Soviet troops stormed the Vilnius television center building.

The January 1991 events became the culmination of a long struggle to restore Lithuania’s independence. On the night from January 12 to 13, tens of thousands of Vilnius residents took to the streets to defend strategic facilities from the Soviet army. That day, as a result of the Soviet troops’ actions, 14 defenders were killed in Vilnius, and hundreds were wounded. In independent Lithuania, this date is commemorated as the Day of Freedom Defenders.

Defenders of Freedom Day rally, Vilnius, January 12, 2026

Although Soviet troops managed to seize the television tower and the building of the Lithuanian Radio and Television, they did not dare to attack the thousands-strong crowd surrounding the Parliament building, which had evolved from the Supreme Council of the Lithuanian SSR into the Seimas of the Restoration of the Lithuanian State. The celebrations for Defenders of Freedom Day began on January 12: near the Seimas on Gediminas Avenue and near the TV tower, bonfires were lit, and on Independence Square the Lithuanian national flag was solemnly raised. After the fires were lit, the President of Lithuania Gitanas Nausėda stated that freedom, like fire, must be continually supported,

“so that it would burn brightly”– Gitanas Nausėda

“We must never stop and think that the battles for freedom took place in the past, that we won them once and for all. This is not so, and Ukraine, the blood it shed, reminds us of the price of freedom that we must be ready to pay at any moment”

At noon on January 13, a guard-of-honor march with a military band took place from that location to Cathedral Square, and flowers were laid at the memorials to the defenders of independence at Antakalnis Cemetery and in other places.

These events remind us of the price of freedom and the responsibility to future generations. Defenders of Freedom Day provides an opportunity to pay tribute to that wave of people who stood up to defend Lithuania’s sovereignty and laid the groundwork for the modern state. For many Lithuanians, this day also has an international dimension: it underscores the importance of solidarity with peoples who are fighting for freedom and independence.

© 2026 Mezha.net