Albertas Šimėnas

Lithuanian economist and political figure, a signatory of the 11 March 1990 Act on the Re-establishment of the Independent State of Lithuania, and Prime Minister of Lithuania from 10 to 13 January 1991.

Early career and the independence movement

Born on 17 February 1950 in Papilių village, Anykščiai district. He entered Antalina primary school in 1956, finished Troškūnai secondary school in 1967, and studied economics at Vilnius University in 1967–1972 as an economist-mathematician. In 1972–1973 he was an economist at the computing centre of the Lithuanian SSR State Planning Committee, and in 1973–1984 a researcher at the People's Economy Planning and Economics Research Institute. He took a candidate's degree in the social sciences in 1981, lectured at the Vilnius Civil Engineering Institute in 1984–1989 and became associate professor in 1989. In 1989–1990 he was a senior researcher at the Economics Institute of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences. He published about 60 scholarly articles on economics.

He entered politics through Sąjūdis, was elected to the Supreme Council–Reconstituent Seimas on 24 February 1990 in Druskininkai constituency no. 62, and was a member in 1990–1992. On 11 March 1990 he voted for the Act on the Re-establishment of the Independent State of Lithuania.

January 1991, the three-day premiership and the Druskininkai episode

The second government officially began work on 10 January 1991; its composition was largely unchanged from the Prunskienė government, with only the premier changing. According to Šimėnas the Seimas vote was roughly 78 for, one against and the rest abstaining, he had not expected the post, first declined Landsbergis's proposal and then accepted a renewed one. Per the records registry he was appointed prime minister around 20:00 on 10 January and released around 05:00 on 13 January, about 57 hours, the shortest such tenure in Lithuanian history.

In his account the cabinet worked to keep calm, bar provocation, keep ministries functioning and prepare for a possible new occupation: it resolved unanimously that all powers to represent Lithuania abroad be given to foreign minister Algirdas Saudargas in case of occupation, and that the public be told the legitimate government continued while any occupation authority would be illegal. He described acute pressure from Moscow and unanswered attempts to reach Soviet leaders.

On the evening of 12 January, after receiving information about the assault on buildings in Vilnius, he withdrew with his family to Druskininkai. Testifying in the January 13 case he said he decided to hide from the coup plotters, believed he could accomplish more that way, and had word of his whereabouts passed to Vytautas Landsbergis. He characterised the 8 January 1991 'Jedinstvo' rally and attempt to storm the Supreme Council as really aimed at changing power in Lithuania.

Sources differ on the date of his reappearance. English Wikipedia says he disappeared as the Soviet Army entered Vilnius and suddenly reappeared on 14 January, whereas Lithuanian sources place his return to Vilnius and the transfer of the premiership on 13 January. This entry presents both accounts rather than forcing a single date. Because he failed to appear at that day's sessions and could not be found, the Supreme Council immediately dismissed him and his cabinet and appointed Gediminas Vagnorius head of government.

Later career and assessment

He was appointed Minister of Economy of the third government on 30 May 1991 and served until 1992, and was deputy director and senior researcher of the Economics and Privatisation Institute in 1992–1996. He was a Seimas member in 1996–2000 and chaired its Economics Committee, and in 2000 was deputy director of the Lithuanian Economy Institute. He was development director of Lithuanian Railways in 2000–2006 and deputy director-general in 2006–2017. He was a Christian Democrat from 1994, of the Lithuanian Christian Democrats from 2001 and of TS-LKD from 2008. He received the Lithuanian Independence Medal on 1 July 2000, published the monograph 'Ekonomikos reforma Lietuvoje' in 1996, and authored or co-authored many legislative drafts and amendments.

Debate over his premiership continued afterwards. In 1993 he was entered in the Lithuanian Records Book as the shortest-serving holder of such office. In a later interview he argued the cabinet took necessary decisions in under three days, kept ministries working at a critical moment and declined provocation, and was reluctant to discuss the night of 12–13 January, calling it an object of political wars between left and right. A scholarly study of the episode exists: Gediminas Ilgūnas, 'Antroji Vyriausybė. Premjero paslaptis: 1991 m. sausio 10-13 d.' (Vilnius: Versus aureus, 2008).