Lithuania - On Sunday evening (24 January 2021), it was announced that Rimantas Pleikys (1958-2021), a journalist, political figure and founder of several radio stations, had died at the age of 64. He was the founder of M-1 (*1989), Radio Centras (*1990) and Radio Baltic Waves International (*2000). It was during his tenure as member of the Lithuanian parliament that he proposed a Radio Free Belarus, modelled after Radio Free Europe. The public response was unexpectedly negative, because the public did not want a deterioration of relations with the Eastern neighbour. Under a new name his project is still on the air on 1386 kHz with relays in Russian for RFE/RL and NHK World Radio Japan and in several languages for Polskie Radio. Rimantas Pleikys was also instrumental in saving the short wave station at Sitkunai by a new 100 kW short wave transmitter and a new curtain array. The new facility ended broadcasting in 2017.
Obituaries can be found at
https://www.15min.lt/naujiena/aktualu/lietuva/premjere-reiskia-uzuojauta-del-zurnalisto-politiko-rimanto-pleikio-mirties-56-1444738
The google translation into English seems to reproduce the original fairly well.
(Dr Hansjoerg Biener 26 January 2021 via WOR io group)
