Lithuanian prosecutors have charged six foreign nationals with terrorism over a planned attack on a private military supplier involved in providing aid to Ukraine, authorities announced on Friday.
According to public broadcaster LRT, the case has been referred to court over an attack planned for September 2024 in the northern city of Šiauliai.
The Prosecutor General’s Office said the suspects are charged with membership in a terrorist group, attempted terrorist acts, and financing of terrorism. The indictment was filed earlier this month with the Šiauliai Regional Court, said Arturas Urbelis, chief prosecutor of the department for organized crime and corruption investigations.
“The defendants are of different nationalities: one Spanish citizen, another with dual Spanish-Colombian nationality, as well as citizens of Colombia, Cuba, Russia, and Belarus,” Urbelis stated.
According to the prosecution, the intended target was the infrastructure and products of UAB TVC Solutions, specifically mobile radio spectrum analysis stations destined for the Ukrainian armed forces.
Investigations into four additional suspects are ongoing. One of them was arrested in Colombia under an international arrest warrant and is currently subject to extradition proceedings to Lithuania. International arrest warrants have also been issued for three other individuals.
Lithuanian authorities indicated that the group’s activities may have been coordinated from Russia, with links to the GRU, Russia’s military intelligence service. Prosecutors said there are “reasonable grounds to suspect that the attempted sabotage… was carried out on the orders and for the benefit of the GRU.”
The most serious charge carries a prison sentence of five to fifteen years under Lithuanian law.
Saulius Briginas, deputy head of the Lithuanian Criminal Police Bureau, said at a press conference that the attack was planned in advance and carried out in several stages. He explained that several suspects initially traveled to Lithuania to gather intelligence on the targeted company and its infrastructure and passed this information on to the organizers of the plot. A Spanish citizen and a Spanish-Colombian national later arrived with instructions to carry out the attack.
“They arrived with the specific mission of setting fire to the radio spectrum analysis stations,” Briginas said, adding that investigators established the suspects had obtained gasoline and other materials intended for arson.
The attempted attack failed due to the intervention of passersby, he said. The suspects then fled to Latvia, where they were arrested by Latvian authorities.
Police added that a few days later, two more suspects, Russian and Belarusian nationals, entered Lithuania with the intention of completing the attack.
