The chief national security adviser to Lithuania's president says he believes he was targeted by Russian intelligence after receiving a call from someone impersonating a senior Ukrainian official.
Deividas Matulionis said he received a call in May from a person claiming to be Rustem Umerov, Secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defence Council, who sought to establish a regular communication channel between Ukraine and the presidents of the three Baltic states – Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
Matulionis said he was nearly convinced he was speaking with the real Umerov because the caller's voice had been convincingly imitated.
"I certainly do not think this was a prank. In my personal opinion, it was an attempt by the Russian services," Matulionis told reporters.
Following the call, a proposal was made to set up regular contact and meetings via Zoom. Subsequent checks in Lithuania revealed that the phone number had been spoofed, with only the last four digits matching Umerov's genuine number.
Lithuanian officials then consulted their Ukrainian counterparts. Umerov subsequently issued a public warning that individuals were attempting to contact national security officials across Europe by impersonating him, and urged all parties to verify official contacts through confirmed channels. He repeated the warning on the social media platform X.
Matulionis said no sensitive information had been shared during the call, stressing that he had conveyed only Lithuania's publicly known official position.
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