[4][5][6] The 13th of January was the most violent day of the month in Lithuania and this was the bloodiest act of repression by Soviet forces since the April 9 tragedy.

[7] The events were primarily centered in the capital city Vilnius, but Soviet military activity and confrontations also occurred elsewhere in the country, including Alytus, Šiauliai, Varėna and Kaunas.

In January 1991 the Lithuanian government was forced to raise prices several times and this was used for organization of mass protests of the so-called "Russophone population" of the country.

[11] During the five days preceding the killings, Soviet, Polish, and other workers at Vilnius factories protested the government's consumer goods price hikes and what they saw as ethnic discrimination.

This and other actions would give the Soviets a pretext for intervention when they later would send elite armed forces and special service units for the protection of the rallied Russophone population minority.

[10][11] On 8 January the conflict between Chairman of the Parliament Vytautas Landsbergis and the more pragmatic Prime Minister Kazimira Prunskienė culminated in her resignation.

During a radio and television address, Landsbergis called upon independence supporters to gather around and protect the main governmental and infrastructural buildings.

From 8–9 January several special Soviet military units were flown to Lithuania (including the counter-terrorism Alpha Group and paratroopers of the 76th Guards Air Assault Division of the VDV based at Pskov).

On 10 January Gorbachev addressed the Supreme Council, demanding a restoration of the constitution of the USSR in Lithuania and the revocation of "all anti-constitutional laws".

In the morning, Landsbergis and Prime Minister Albertas Šimėnas were presented with another ultimatum from the "Democratic Congress of Lithuania" demanding that they comply with Gorbachev's request by 15:00 on 11 January.

Deputy Minister of Defense of the Soviet Union, General Vladislav Achalov, arrived in Lithuania and took control of all military operations.

The reaction from the United States government was somewhat muted as they were heavily preoccupied with the imminent onset of Operation Desert Storm against Iraq and worried about possible wider consequences if they were to offend the Soviets at that critical juncture.

[19] President George H. W. Bush denounced the incident, calling it "deeply disturbing" and that it "threatens to set back or perhaps even reverse the process of reform" in the Soviet Union.

[23] During the following day, meetings of support took place in many cities (Kyiv, Riga, Tallinn) and some had defensive barricades built around their government districts.

Iceland kept its promise, and on 4 February 1991, just three weeks after the attacks, it recognized the Republic of Lithuania as a sovereign independent state, and diplomatic relations were established between the two nations.

From the interview of Mikhail Golovatov, ex-commander of "Alpha-group": "The weapons and ammunition that were given to us, were handed over at the end of the operation, so it can be established that not a single shot was fired from our side.

"[24] In 1996, two members of the Central Committee of Communist Party of the Lithuanian SSR, Mykolas Burokevičius and Juozas Jermalavičius, were given prison sentences for their involvement in the January Events.

In July 2011, diplomatic tensions rose between Austria and Lithuania when Mikhail Golovatov, an ex-KGB general who took part in the 13 January 1991 massacre, was released after being detained at the Vienna Airport.

Robertas Povilaitis, a surviving son of one of the victims, requested that law enforcement authorities conduct an investigation into Gorbachev's role in the events.

As no pre-trial investigation has been initiated against Gorbachev in the January 13 case, the Chairman of the Constitutional Court of Lithuania Dainius Žalimas argued that it is hard to believe that the events happened without the knowledge of the President of the USSR.

[34] On 31 March 2021, the Lithuanian Court of Appeal announced its judgement, which only increased the time of imprisonment for the sentenced and awarded non-pecuniary damage of 10.876 million Euro to the victims.