Lithuanian President Decorates Maxim Behar with a State Award for His Articles 32 Years Ago

Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda presented a special medal to the Bulgarian media expert and CEO of M3 Communications Group, Inc. – Maxim Behar, for his articles from the dramatic events which happened around January 13, 1991, in Vilnius. Back then Soviet tanks entered Lithuania in an attempt to take back the country, which had seceded from the Soviet Union and declared its independence.

The ceremony took place at the Presidential Palace in Vilnius on the Independence Day of the Republic of Lithuania, 16th of February. Many government officials were present at the ceremony, as well as ambassadors, intellectuals, military men and businessmen.

Maxim Behar arrived in Lithuania from Warsaw, where he was a correspondent in the early 90s, after long disputes with Russian special forces OMON, who initially did not let him in the country. He reached the Lithuanian parliament surrounded by Soviet tanks, where he entered on January 13, 1991 as the first foreign journalist to arrive to cover the events. Behar was sending articles and broadcasting to all Bulgarian media, TV headline news began usually with his reports those days. Lithuania was forcibly annexed by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics immediately after the Second World War and subsequently became the first republic to declare its independence immediately after the collapse of the communist empire.

Several years ago the Lithuanian Ambassador in Sofia H.E. Darius Gaydiš learned by chance about this inspiring story and informed the Lithuanian government about it, by sending all publications on the subject. Deeply impressed by this long-forgotten story and his courage and journalistic professionalism, as a result, in January this year, the President of Lithuania signed a special decree awarding Maxim Behar.