Lithuania is now among the EU leaders in annual industrial growth. In March 2025, its production output was up nearly 8% compared to the previous year. Across the EU, the average increase was under 3%. But on May 12, 2025, Belarus 1 anchor Sergei Gusachenko said on the program “Clear Politics” that all that’s left of Lithuania’s once-strong industry is “a labor force.” The show’s headline matched the tone: “Lithuania’s Dead Industry: Shuttered Factories, Trashed Brands, a Nightmare for the People.”
“Lithuania was once a proud industrial region of the union. Today, it’s still part of a union — just a different one. But Europe has become a symbol of gloom and bankruptcy. TVs, fertilizers, nuclear energy, even cars of their own — it’s all been run into the ground,” Gusachenko said.
After those words, dramatic music played over footage of supposedly shuttered Lithuanian factories, complete with names, closure dates, reasons and the fallout of each shutdown. But the WTF team found that some of those plants are still operating.
One example: the Azotas chemical plant. Belarus 1 claimed the plant suffered a “total collapse” in 2012 due to pressure from the EU./In reality, the factory is still running — just under a different name: Achema. It’s located in the city of Jonava, not in Kėdainiai as the broadcast stated. In recent years, the plant has faced losses, mostly due to high gas prices in Europe. Recently, the company announced a temporary halt in ammonia production.
We found no evidence that the unprofitable Viltis refrigerator plant in Kaunas ever existed. Refrigerators in the Baltics were produced by the well-known Snaige factory — and it’s still in operation today. The archive photo shown on Belarusian TV as an image of the Viltis plant actually depicted the Pamir refrigerator factory in Tajikistan. That plant was indeed shut down after the collapse of the Soviet Union. But it has nothing to do with Lithuania.
The Klaipėda ship repair yard, which allegedly shut down in 2010, is actually still operating as part of a cluster linking shipyards in Lithuania, Estonia and Finland. Financial records from Lithuania’s public online registry show the company is turning a profit.
Belarus 1 reported that the Lietkabelis cable factory in Kaunas closed in 2015. But first, it’s not located in Kaunas — it’s in Panevėžys. And second, the factory never shut down, although its workforce has shrunk nearly sevenfold since Soviet times, from 1,250 to 180 employees. Recent financial reports show the company remains steadily profitable.
This isn’t Sergei Gusachenko’s first fake about the supposed fallout of the Soviet Union’s collapse for former republics. In April 2025, he said Ukraine had “squandered a massive legacy and blown its unique factories.” The Weekly Top Fake team found that at least five of the 18 plants he claimed were shut down “under the weight of devastation” during Ukraine’s independence are still operating.