The Coup of the Volunteers (Lithuanian: Pakaunės savanorių maištas) was a stand-off that occurred in summer 1993 in Lithuania near Kaunas between a group of about 150 men from the Lithuanian National Defence Volunteer Forces (then known as Savanoriškoji krašto apsaugos tarnyba or SKAT) and the Lithuanian government. There was mutual distrust between SKAT and the newly elected leftist Democratic Labour Party of Lithuania (LDDP). Several SKAT members (usually referred to as volunteers) abandoned their posts, took their arms, and retreated to a wooded area near Kaunas in July and August 1993. The crisis escalated when the government issued an order for the volunteers to secure their weapons at designated locations in September. Interpreting the order as confiscation of their weapons, a total