Mantas Adomėnas (born 1 October 1972) is a Lithuanian

classicist Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

and politician. He was first

elected Elected may refer to: * "Elected" (song), by Alice Cooper, 1973 * ''Elected'' (EP), by Ayreon, 2008 *The Elected, an American indie rock band See also *Election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population ...

to the

Seimas The Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublikos Seimas), or simply the Seimas (), is the unicameral parliament of Lithuania. The Seimas constitutes the legislative branch of government in Lithuania, enacting laws and amendmen ...

in 2008 and served until 2020. He earned a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

degree in

classics Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

from the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

. His best known work is probably the article ''The Fluctuating Fortunes of Heraclitus in Plato.'' Adomėnas was designated as the Vice Chairman of the

Homeland Union The Homeland Union – Lithuanian Christian Democrats ( lt, Tėvynės sąjunga Lietuvos krikščionys demokratai, TS–LKD), also known colloquially simply as the Conservatives, is a centre-right political party in Lithuania. It has 18,000 mem ...

in 2017. He ran for a Seimas seat as an independent in 2020 and lost but was selected as deputy minister of foreign affairs in December 2020 by

Gabrielius Landsbergis Gabrielius Landsbergis (born 7 January 1982 in Vilnius) is a Lithuanian politician, Minister of Foreign Affairs in the 18th Government of the Republic of Lithuania led by the Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė. He is a Member of the Seimas for C ...

Influence peddling, other allegations

While Vice Chairman of

Adomėnas was stripped of party membership in 2018 after being found guilty by party governance organs of

influence peddling Influence peddling is the practice of using one's influence in government or connections with authorities to obtain favours or preferential treatment for another, usually in return for payment. It is also called traffic of influence or trading i ...

for MG Baltic, a business conglomerate with perceived

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

connections, with the aim of facilitating “capture of the party” by the business group. It has also been alleged, and admitted by Adomėnas, that his wife had organized crime connections in her youth in

Kaunas Kaunas (; ; also see other names) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaunas was the largest city and the centre of a county in the Duchy of Trakai ...

while running an

antiques An antique ( la, antiquus; 'old', 'ancient') is an item perceived as having value because of its aesthetic or historical significance, and often defined as at least 100 years old (or some other limit), although the term is often used loosely ...

business there, specifically to and his circle.

Support for Taiwan, Hong Kong independence

Adomėnas is a supporter of

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

and

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

independence movements. He organized a rally with slightly over 100 participants on 23 August 2019, during the 2019–20 Hong Kong protests, in solidarity with a protest in Hong Kong named the " Baltic Way". During the rally, Adomėnas decried a group of about a dozen counter-protesters as having been "hired". Since March 2021 Adomėnas has been member of Lithuania-Taiwan Forum, an NGO supporting

Taiwan independence Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast ...

Gintaras Steponavičius Gintaras Steponavičius (born 23 July 1967 in Klaipėda) is a Lithuanian former Liberal politician, retiring from politics in 2020. He was member of the Seimas and Senior Deputy Chair of the Lithuanian Liberal Movement Party. Steponavičius was t ...

, accused in the Liberal Party bribery case on behalf of MG Baltic, is also part of the initiative. Adomėnas led Lithuania's decision to open Taiwan's de-facto embassy in Lithuania in 2021 which resulted in unprecedented breakdown of China-Lithuania relations. Taiwan is recognized by a small handful of countries and has been found bribing foreign politicians to gain recognition on multiple occasions in the past.

References

Members of the Seimas Politicians from Vilnius 1972 births Living people Lithuanian scholars of ancient Greek philosophy Alumni of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Vilnius University alumni Members of the International Steering Committee of the Community of Democracies 21st-century Lithuanian politicians {{Lithuania-politician-stub