Lithuania’s law enforcement authorities suspect a member of the opposition conservative Homeland Union – Lithuanian Christian Democrats (TS-LKD) of spying for Russia.
“The person has dual Lithuanian and Russian citizenship, belongs to the TS-LKD party and the Union of Political Prisoners and Deportees,” Artūras Urbelis, chief prosecutor of the Prosecutor General’s Office, told journalists on Monday.
The suspect is Eduardas Manovas from Šiauliai, two sources later confirmed to BNS.
According to Urbelis, the man was acting on behalf of Russian intelligence and gathering information of interest to it.
Remigijus Bridikis, deputy director of the State Security Department (VSD), said the suspect was not collecting classified information.
“The information collected was not classified, but it was of interest to Russia and of significance: the activities of political parties, deportees, Lithuania’s defence, domestic and foreign policy, preparations for exercises, defence potential,” he told journalists.
According to Urbelis, the man suspected of spying had access to “all the leaders of the party and all the state officials involved in the party’s activities”, including the prime minister and ministers, during various events.
However, according to the prosecutor, no meetings were recorded in the government building or the Seimas.
Encrypted radio exchange
This is an exceptional case of spying, Bridikis pointed out.
“The person was involved in the Russian military intelligence service’s Illegals Program. [...] It’s very exceptional because it’s quite expensive, complex, requires a lot of resources, work and preparation. Usually, in such cases, people are collecting sensitive information of particular interest to Russia,” the VSD representative said.
According to Bridikis, typically people chosen for such tasks do not stand out in terms of their behaviour, they have good language skills and are psychologically prepared. They are sent to a foreign country and create a normal-looking life.
The pre-trial investigation was launched in January. It is now closed and the case will soon go to court.
“At this stage, the materials of the criminal case will be handed over to the defence and the suspect,” the prosecutor said.
According to law enforcement, sophisticated espionage equipment was found and seized during the investigation.
“Multi-level objects, instruments. [...] A person was given tasks to monitor both the political field and our defence preparedness,” said Urbelis.
According to him, information was exchanged between the suspected spy and Russian intelligence via radio waves using special radio receivers.
“The information was received by radio, decrypted, a task was carried out, then the information was encrypted, systems were prepared for transmission and the information was transmitted,” the prosecutor explained.
No signals
Radvilė Morkūnaitė-Mikulėnienė, the interim chair of TS-LKD, said the party had not received any signals from law enforcement about a possible case of espionage.
“We have not received any signals from the law enforcement authorities that such a person might have infiltrated our political community,” she told LRT RADIO.
“We do not know that there is such a person. We hope that with the information we have, we will be able to take appropriate action, but in general, we probably see the situation in the context of hybrid attacks, attempts by hostile states to act in various contexts, including attempts to undermine and discredit political parties,” Morkūnaitė-Mikulėnienė added
Morkūnaitė-Mikulėnienė said that if the identity of the suspected spy is confirmed, he will be expelled from TS-LKD.
“We have asked the Prosecutor’s Office to confirm the name of the person. If the identity of that person is correct, we will take appropriate action – we will expel him from the party,” she told journalists on Monday.
According to her, Manovas joined the party in 2005. She said she had interacted with him at various events.
“He showed no special interest in asking questions, but this person was [at events], and I noticed him,” the interim party leader said.
Outgoing Interior Minister Agnė Bilotaitė said that Manovas, who is suspected of spying for Russia, may have his Lithuanian citizenship revoked.
“If it is confirmed that this is the person and that he has dual citizenship, I think that it is a natural process that this will be done,” she told BNS on Monday.
Manovas ran for the Šiauliai City Council in 2011 with TS-LKD and was a member of the Šiauliai branch of the Lithuanian Union of Political Prisoners and Deportees. He is a photographer, and in 2014 he presented his photography exhibition “Lithuania – in my heart” in Šiauliai.
Born in 1942, Manovas stated in his electoral questionnaire that he graduated from the Lviv Humanities University in 1969 with a degree in journalism and has two children.
The suspect may have started his intelligence activities in 2018. Before moving to Lithuania, Manovas lived in Russia.
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