Lithuania declared the restoration of its independence on March 11, 1990 — the first Soviet republic to do so, and a move Moscow initially refused to recognize. The Kremlin responded with an economic blockade and a military intervention in January 1991 that killed 14 civilians at the Vilnius TV Tower. Full international recognition didn't come until September of that year.
KM#122 was struck in a limited commemorative issue by the Bank of Lithuania, which had itself been reestablished in 1990 as part of the broader project of rebuilding state institutions from the Soviet-era wreckage.
Lithuania declared the restoration of its independence on March 11, 1990 — the first Soviet republic to do so, and a move Moscow initially refused to recognize. The Kremlin responded with an economic blockade and a military intervention in January 1991 that killed 14 civilians at the Vilnius TV Tower. Full international recognition didn't come until September of that year.
KM#122 was struck in a limited commemorative issue by the Bank of Lithuania, which had itself been reestablished in 1990 as part of the broader project of rebuilding state institutions from the Soviet-era wreckage.