Lithuania accuses Belarus, Russia of operation against Belarusian exiles

VILNIUS: Lithuania’s intelligence service accused Belarus and Russia on Wednesday of attempting to organise attacks against Belarusians in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius.

The State Security Department (VSD) said the goal of the alleged operation had been to cause conflicts between Lithuanians and the tens of thousands of Belarusians in the Baltic state.

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Many Belarusians, who include opposition figures and activists, moved there as Minsk clamped down on dissent after a 2020 presidential election that rights groups said was fraudulent.

“Russian and Belarusian intelligence services have been conducting … an operation since 2023 aimed at fomenting ethnic tensions between Lithuanian society and the newly-arrived Belarusian diaspora to make them feel unsafe in the country,” the VSD said in a statement.

It accused Minsk and Moscow of recruiting people to organise and undertake attacks on Belarusian exiles in exchange for cryptocurrency payments.

It said the assaults were prevented but did not specify how.

The VSD also accused the two countries of recruiting people to spray anti-Belarusian and anti-Lithuanian graffiti in Vilnius.

It said a series of vandalism acts targeting Belarusian businesses and cultural centres had taken place since last year.

The intelligence service claimed Belarus and Russia recruited people mainly from the Russian-speaking Lithuanian community on Telegram, a secure messaging app.

European officials have accused Russia of orchestrating a hybrid war against Western countries supporting Ukraine since Moscow invaded the country in February 2022.

The term “hybrid” is commonly used to describe attacks that do not use conventional military tactics, such as sabotaging infrastructure or launching cyberattacks.

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In March, Lithuania arrested two Ukrainians for attempting to set fire to an IKEA store in Vilnius — an incident it blamed on Russian intelligence.

“Lithuania’s intelligence services warn that the work of Russian and Belarusian secret services in Lithuania remain intensive,” the VSD sai