Seimas members Andrius Vyšniauskas, Paulė Kuzmickienė and Mindaugas Skritulskas appealed to the Minister of Transport, proposing to change Soviet-designed road signs.
According to members of the Seimas, the road signs currently valid and used in Lithuania, depending on their design, are identical (the vast majority) or similar to the road signs approved during the occupation of the USSR (according to the Soviet standard GOST 10807-78). Lithuanian road signs also use the same font from the Soviet standard GOST 10807-78 (this font was specially created for USSR road signs).
The graphic design and font of road signs used in Lithuania are identical or similar to road signs used in Russia, Belarus and other post-Soviet countries, since they are also produced and used according to the same Soviet standard. Latvija and Estonia, unlike Lithuania, has long since changed the graphic design of its road signs and uses different fonts.
"Lithuania has not only identified itself with the Western world for more than 30 years, but is also a part of it. We do not associate our identity with the states stuck in the post-Soviet space, which were part of the USSR, even more so with Russia or Belarus. In the course of Russia's war against Ukraine and against the entire democratic Western world, we are trying to sever all links with the criminal authoritarian regimes of Russia and Belarus. However, after crossing the Lithuanian-Russian or Lithuanian-Belarusian borders, we are greeted by the same or very similar Soviet standard road signs with the same Soviet font. We are able to remove Soviet boulders from city squares, move soldiers' cemeteries, it is time to abandon these Soviet relics as well", says Seimas member A. Vyšniauskas.
The letter initiated by members of the Seimas to the Ministry of Transport states that in order to change the design of road signs from the Soviet Union, it is necessary to create road signs with their own graphic design, close or similar to the road signs used in the European Union countries. According to the members of the Seimas, these changes could be implemented within the next 10 years, as most of the road signs in the country are basically updated during that time.
Members of the Seimas note that this initiative is not new and that it comes up all the time, but the Ministry of Transport has not taken the initiative so far. It is hoped that as the process of de-Sovietization gradually accelerates, this time it will be possible to find a consensus on the replacement of road signs.
