The Belarusian government is abducting Lithuanian citizens and the authorities will respond, according to Lithuania’s intelligence chief Darius Jauniškis.
The head of the State Security Department (VSD) was thus commenting on a Belarusian court ruling in mid-June that found a Lithuanian woman guilty of espionage and sentenced her to six years in prison.
“We are aware of the situation and it is worrying. I see it as the Belarusian regime having moved to kidnapping Lithuanian citizens without any pretext,” Jauniškis said in an interview published by 15min.lt on Thursday.
“In our view, this is complete nonsense. It is very unjust,” he added.
Jauniškis said the case clearly demonstrated the Belarusian regime’s readiness to kidnap Lithuanian citizens.
“Apparently, there will be some measures and reactions from the Lithuanian authorities as well,” he said.
The Belarusian opposition news website Afn.by and the ONT TV channel reported last month that Elena Ramanauskienė, an employee of the Belorus sanatorium in Lithuania’s southern resort town of Druskininkai, had been found guilty of agent activities.
The woman was accused of repeatedly passing on information about visiting guests, including high-ranking Belarusian officials. It is alleged that Lithuanian special services recruited her more than ten years ago.
The Lithuanian Foreign Ministry has told BNS that it is aware of the situation and that it has no reason to believe the accusations are substantiated.
15min.lt has reported that Ramanauskienė might have been detained by Belarusian officials last year while returning to Lithuania from Belarus after visiting her family.
According to Afn.by, Andrei Kobel, Belorus’ former head doctor, has also been sentenced to nine years in prison for spying for Lithuania. He was detained by the Belarusian KGB in late 2022.
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