Lithuania’s prosecutors have referred a criminal case to court in which six foreign nationals are accused of planning a terrorist attack in September 2024 targeting a private military supplier in Šiauliai that provides support to Ukraine, the General Prosecutor’s Office said Friday.
Artūras Urbelis, chief prosecutor of the Organised Crime and Corruption Investigation Department, said the indictment was drawn up January 12 and submitted to Šiauliai Regional Court on January 14.
The six defendants face charges of participating in a terrorist group, attempting to commit a terrorist act and financing terrorist activities.
“The defendants hold various citizenships: one Spanish citizen, one dual Spanish-Colombian citizen, and citizens of Colombia, Cuba, Russia and Belarus,” Urbelis said.
Prosecutors said the target of the planned attack was the infrastructure and products of UAB TVC Solutions in Šiauliai, including mobile stations for radio spectrum analysis intended for Ukraine’s armed forces.
Investigations into four additional suspects are ongoing. One was arrested in Colombia under an international warrant and is currently undergoing extradition proceedings to Lithuania, while international warrants have been issued for the other three.
Lithuanian authorities are seeking Alexeis Pecora, a Cuban born in 1991; Oemis Romagoza Durruthy, a dual Cuban-Russian citizen born in 1991; and Mayra Eukaris De La Lastra Nistal, a dual Cuban-Spanish citizen born in 1965.
Prosecutors said the group’s activities may have been coordinated from Russia by Cuban and Colombian nationals linked to the Russian military intelligence agency, the GRU.
“Data from Lithuania’s preliminary investigation provide reasonable grounds to suspect that the attempted sabotage in Šiauliai was carried out on the orders of and for the benefit of Russia’s GRU,” the prosecutor’s office said.
The most serious charge is participation in an organised terrorist group, which carries a prison sentence of five to 15 years under Lithuania’s criminal code.
Urbelis said the indictment totals 258 pages and the case file contains 42 volumes of materials.
In November 2024, Lithuanian authorities said two Spanish citizens were arrested in connection with the planned attack in Šiauliai. Media reports suggested they may have been recruited by Russian intelligence. The suspects fled to Riga after the attack failed, where they were detained by Latvian security services and transferred to Lithuania under European arrest warrants.
The Russian connection
Lithuanian authorities said Friday that all suspects still being sought in connection with an attempted terrorist attack on a military supplier in Šiauliai are currently in Russia, as investigators detailed how the plot unfolded and linked it to Russian intelligence.
Saulius Briginas, deputy head of the Lithuanian Criminal Police Bureau, said at a news conference that the attack was planned in advance and involved multiple stages, with operatives traveling to Lithuania to gather intelligence on the company and its infrastructure.
According to Briginas, several suspects arrived in Lithuania to collect information and pass it to the organisers of the plot. Later, a Spanish citizen and a dual Spanish-Colombian national travelled to Lithuania with instructions to carry out the attack.
“They arrived with the specific task of setting fire to the radio spectrum analysis stations,” Briginas said. Investigators determined the suspects obtained gasoline and other materials intended to be used to torch the equipment.
The attempted arson failed after passersby intervened, Briginas said. The suspects then fled to Latvia, where they were detained by Latvian authorities.
A few days later, two more suspects – citizens of Russia and Belarus – entered Lithuania in an attempt to complete the attack, police said.
“The individuals poured a flammable liquid, set it on fire and, believing the arson had succeeded, left the scene,” Briginas said. “As it later emerged, the materials they prepared and the method they used did not pose a serious threat to the military equipment.”
Authorities said a Cuban national later travelled from Russia to Lithuania and relayed information about the damage to the organisers of the plot.
Prosecutors said the operation was organised by Russian intelligence officers operating through a complex, multilayered structure.
Pretrial investigation data “allow us to reasonably conclude that unidentified – but being identified – Russian intelligence officers organised these actions,” said the chief prosecutor of the Organised Crime and Corruption Investigation Department, Urbelis.
Briginas said the alleged masterminds of the plot are beyond Lithuania’s jurisdiction but have been identified and placed on international wanted lists.
“They are identified, and international searches have been initiated,” Briginas said. “They have effectively been eliminated from further criminal activity.”
Urbelis said Russian involvement was also evident in how the failed attack was portrayed as a success by Kremlin-aligned propaganda outlets.
Russian propaganda channels claimed there had been a major fire that destroyed equipment destined for Ukraine, despite the fact that the attack failed, Urbelis said. Telegram channels supportive of Russia’s war in Ukraine promoted narratives portraying the incident as an act by pro-Russian Ukrainian partisans, local antifascists or anti-militarists.
“The coordinated messaging about crimes that had not actually occurred clearly signalled to us that the masterminds were linked to Russian intelligence services,” Urbelis said.
Prosecutors said the attempted attack aimed both to physically destroy military aid destined for Ukraine and to fuel propaganda intended to undermine public support in Lithuania for assistance to Kyiv.
“The goal was to create dissatisfaction with aid to Ukraine and to suggest that part of Lithuanian society opposes supporting Ukraine,” Urbelis said. “The target was chosen both to damage equipment and to send a propaganda message.”
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