Lithuania to pay Soviet Army deserters

VILNIUS, Lithuania, Jan. 2 (UPI) -- Lithuania said citizens punished after its 1990 independence from the Soviet Union for refusing to serve in the Soviet Army are eligible for compensation.

The Lithuanian Defense Ministry announced Wednesday a one-time payment of 4,000 litas ($1,528) to those who refused to serve "and were subsequently forcefully drafted into Soviet military units, (or) were sentenced to prison for desertion or for their boycott of the draft," it said in a statement.

Those previously paid a lesser amount in compensation, after a 1996 government resolution, will receive an additional payment to equal a total of 4,000 litas, the Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported.