Audronius Ažubalis
Tėvynės sąjungos-Lietuvos krikščionių demokratų frakcija
Oficialus Seimo profilis ↗Audronius Ažubalis (gimęs 1958 m. sausio 17 d. Vilniuje) yra Lietuvos žurnalistas ir politikas. Jis buvo Lietuvos užsienio reikalų ministras 2010–2012 metais, aktyviai dalyvavo Lietuvos parlamentinėje veikloje bei atstovauja Tėvynės sąjungos – Lietuvos krikščionių demokratų partijai.
He served in the Soviet Army from 1977 to 1979 as part of his compulsory military service.
He is married and has two daughters.
He was expelled from Vilnius University in 1977 for his ties with members of the dissident Lithuanian Helsinki Group.
From 2001 to 2004, he served as the General Director of the Translation, Documentation and Information Centre under the Government of Lithuania.
From 1990 to 1992, he served as the press representative (spokesman) for Vytautas Landsbergis, Chairman of the Supreme Council (Reconstituent Seimas) of Lithuania.
He has been the acting head of Lithuania’s delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly since 2019.
In 2011, he was the Chairperson-in-Office of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).
He served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania from 11 February 2010 to 13 December 2012.
He represents the Homeland Union – Lithuanian Christian Democrats, Lithuania’s conservative party in the European People’s Party.
Ažubalis became a member of the Homeland Union (Lithuanian Conservatives) in 1998.
He was a candidate in the 2024 European Parliament elections on the Homeland Union’s list, but did not secure a seat.
In the 2020 elections, he stood as a Homeland Union list candidate; after tallying preferential (pirmumo) votes, he ranked 12th on the party’s list — well within the 23 seats the party won in the proportional vote.
In the 2016 parliamentary elections, he failed to win in his single-member constituency but was elected to the Seimas on the Homeland Union’s party list.
He served as a Member of the Seimas in 1996–2000, 2004–2008, 2008–2012, 2012–2016, 2016–2020, and 2020–2024 (six parliamentary terms).
As a member of the Seimas, Ažubalis receives a base salary of roughly €3,500 per month (gross), while a minister’s salary is around €4,000 gross monthly (estimated, as of 2022).
He became a member of the Lithuanian Freedom Fighters Union in 2017.
He was one of the founders of the Ronald Reagan Freedom Center, an analytical center established in 2012.
He was President of the National Association of Magazine Publishers in Lithuania from 2001 to 2003.
He was a supporter of the Lithuanian Helsinki Group (a dissident human rights movement) and became a member of the Lithuanian Riflemen’s Union in 2015.
In 2021, he opposed a proposed national minority language law, comparing it to Soviet practices and saying “it is a proposal that divides the country.”
In 2018, Lithuania’s ethics watchdog (VTEK) found that Ažubalis violated the law by failing to promptly declare his wife’s secondary employment (a part-time hospital job) and three personal financial transactions.
On 3 September 2025, as a NATO PA co-chair, he co-signed a statement condemning Russia’s “ongoing brutal war of aggression against Ukraine.”
In 2020, he received the Lithuanian Riflemen’s Union’s “For Merits to the Riflemen’s Union” badge (III Class).
In 2014, he was honored with the Order of Honor of Georgia for his merits to the Georgian state.
In 2013, he received the Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana (2nd Class) from the Republic of Estonia.
In 2007, he was honored with the Ukrainian Order of Merit (3rd Class).
He received Lithuania’s “Invitation to NATO” commemorative badge in 2003.
He was awarded the January 13 Commemorative Medal in 1999 for his contributions to Lithuania’s independence.