Sakalauskas was not re-elected to the Supreme Soviet in the parliamentary elections in 1990 and largely retired from Lithuanian politics. He headed the Soviet trade mission in Maputo, Mozambique. In preparation for the events of January 1991, the KGB brought Sakalauskas to Moscow in an attempt to recruit him for the planned coup by the National Salvation Committee. Sakalauskas was offered to head the planned pro-Moscow government, but he refused and returned to Mozambique. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, he returned to Lithuania and worked in the private sector.