Drunk NATO soldiers sleep on the streets in Lithuania

National Lithuanian daily Lietuvos Rytas raised the issue of the conduct of the NATO troops recently deployed in the country.
The newspaper wrote the story headlined “NATO soldiers are headache for the police”. According to the paper, the incident when several NATO soldiers were beaten on the day of their arrival, was just a beginning.

About 100 NATO troops (pilots and technical personnel) were deployed in town Zoknyai. They reside in the hotels of the nearby Shaulyai and seem to have a good time. Low prices for alcohol and sex services put some soldiers into excitement. General Commissar of Lithuanian police Vitautas Griaravichyus made a sensationalist statement. He said that attacks on the NATO soldiers, beating and robbing them are the results of “alcohol overdose”. 

"We can see the problem as, maybe, certain relaxation after arriving in another country. Alcohol overdose results in what we see. There may be even worse consequences”.

On April 14 Shaulyai residents found drunken NATO soldier from Belgium. In the morning he said at the local police station that he had been beaten and robbed. According to the police, two weeks earlier the two beaten NATO soldiers were also drunk. After that incident, local police changed the routes for patrolling: policemen watch the places attended by NATO soldiers in their spare time. However, on April 14 the Belgian was beaten near the cafй where the soldiers do not go.

Shaulyai police asked the authorities for additional funds to providing security of the NATO troops. Local police intends to purchase 4 more patrol vehicles and put 15 more policemen in patrolling.