Former Lithuanian Prime Minister Gediminas Kirkilas has died at the age of 72.
The politician was found lifeless at home on Saturday without any signs of external violence, Lithuanian media reported, citing the police.
Lithuania's current Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė paid tribute to Kirkilas as a "strong personality" who had actively participated in political life in what is now a Baltic European Union and NATO member state since regaining independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
Kirkilas headed a social democratic-led government in Lithuania from 2006 to 2008.
Prior to this, the politician, who was born in Vilnius in 1951, was minister of defence from 2004 to 2006.
"His time as prime minister in the first years of EU and NATO membership was an important test of our Western orientation, which we passed," wrote President Gitanas Nausėda.
"Gediminas Kirkilas was a clever, respectable, Western-minded politician who worked tirelessly for Lithuania."