Enforcement
At first the Russian authorities encouraged and sponsored the publication of Lithuanian-language works in the Cyrillic alphabet. The idea of replacing the Latin alphabet with Cyrillic was first elaborated by the well-known Pan-Slavist Alexander Hilferding in his 1863 book Lithuania and Samogitia.
The first experiments with the conversion of Lithuanian writings into Cyrillic were conducted by a Lithuanian linguist, Jonas Juška. He showed some samples of adapted texts to both Muravyov and Kornilov in February 1864. However, Juška discontinued his work and Kornilov formed a committee to work on publishing Lithuanian books in Cyrillic. The committee had four members: the Polish librarian Stanisław Mikucki from Warsaw, Russian Jonas Kerčinskis, a Lithuanian Catholic priest who had converted to Eastern Orthodoxy, Antanas Petkevičius, and the well-known Lithuanian educator and publisher Laurynas Ivinskis. Ivinskis soon withdrew from the committee. The first such book was a primer intended for use in the new Russian schools that were replacing the Lithuanian parish schools. It appeared during the summer of 1864. The committee also published a prayer book, a calendar, and other religious literature.
About 55 Lithuanian-Cyrillic titles were published during the 40 years of the ban; about half of these were published during its first decade. Seeing that the Lithuanian people were unwilling to accept these books, even when they were offered for free, the Russian government shifted its attention to eliminating the illegal publications.
The Russian Ministry of Education issued a report in May 1898 recommending that the press ban be repealed. The report stated that the ban had produced adverse and unforeseen results, including the development of Lithuanian nationalism. Other Russian officials had opined that the interests of the Russian state would be better served by the presence of a legal Lithuanian press that could be censored.
During the years of the ban, 3,047 people (829 smugglers, 859 distributors, and 1,359 persons possessing banned books) were arrested in connection with the ban.
Read more about this topic: Lithuanian Press Ban