Other events in Baltic States

7 Lithuanian climbers who conquered nameless peaks in the Tian Shan mountain range in Kyrgyzstan in August have named the peaks after Jonas Basanavicius and Algimantas Vidugiris, hoping to get official recognition of the new names as geographical names, informs LETA/BNS.

"The Lithuanian climbers and our state institutions are working hand-in-hand, we have to wait and hope that the names of the Lithuanian peaks will be stipulated geographically," Irena Andrukaitiene, signatory of the 1990 Independence Act, a member of the Lithuanian Climbing Association and participant of the international expedition Karakol – 2017, told a news conference at the parliament on Friday.

The expedition involved a total of over 70 people, including seven who reached the two nameless peaks later named after the Lithuanian figures.

The name of Basanavicius, chairman of the Council of Lithuania that declared independence in 1918, was given to a 4,594 meter peak to celebrate a century of Lithuania's statehood, while the name of Vidugiris, a Lithuanian-born filmmaker, was given to a 4,780 meter peak due to the person's ties with both Lithuania and Kyrgyzstan.

A few other peaks in Tian Shan already have Lithuanian names, including Zalgiris, Vilnius University, Mazvydas, Nemunas and Millennium of Lithuania.