Eduard Manovas, who is suspected of spying for Russia, has been expelled from the conservative Homeland Union–Lithuanian Christian Democrats (TS-LKD), the party has announced.
TS-LKD Executive Secretary Martynas Prievelis told BNS that the party’s Šiauliai branch made the decision to expel Manovas on Saturday.
“The branch’s council voted electronically,” he said.
According to TS-LKD interim leader Radvilė Morkunaitė-Mikulenienė, the Šiauliai branch’s decision was sufficient to expel Manovas from the party.
“We received confirmation from the Prosecutor’s Office. His name had only appeared in the media; we didn’t have official confirmation it was him. Now we have, and the final steps were taken,” she said on Saturday.
According to law-enforcement officials, Manovas is believed to have worked for Russia’s GRU military intelligence service since 2018, gathering non-classified but relevant information about Lithuania for Moscow.
The Migration Department has launched an investigation into whether the man legally acquired Lithuanian citizenship 20 years ago, but officials have said no quick decisions are expected.
Born in 1942, Manovas was deported to Russia with his parents during the Soviet occupation as a child. The man returned to Lithuania after the country regained independence and acquired Lithuanian citizenship. Currently, he holds both Russian and Lithuanian passports.
Manovas ran for a seat on the Šiauliai City Council with TS-LKD in 2011 and was a member of the Šiauliai branch of the Lithuanian Union of Political Prisoners and Deportees.
He presented his photo exhibition titled “Lithuania is in My Heart” in Šiauliai in 2014.
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