Bastys didn’t pass security filter due to Rosatom, ex-KGB links

The materials provided to the parliamentary speaker describe Bastys’ connections to Yevgeny Kostin, titled as a representative of the Russian nuclear energy corporation Rosatom, former KGB agent Piotr Voyeiko, Russian state channel RTR journalist Ernest Matskevich, former Kaunas mafia leader Saturnas Dubininkas and Vadimas Pachomovas, a businessman suspected of shady operations.

According to the department’s conclusion, the links make Bastys vulnerable and would threaten the safety of state secrets he has access to. After receipt of the information, Parliamentary Speaker Viktoras Pranckietis on Thursday urged Bastys to step down from the post of parliamentary vice-speaker.

The seven-page letter from the State Security Department, which BNS had an opportunity to see, mainly focuses on Bastys’ ties with Kostin. According to the document, Kostin represents Rosatom’s interests in Lithuania and worked to improve the image of the Astravyets Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) under construction in Belarus merely 50 km from Lithuania’s capital Vilnius.

At Kostin’s request, Bastys organized a meeting between Rosatom’s representatives with Lithuania’s then Seimas speaker Vydas Gedvilas in 2012-2013, mediated for a residence permit of a few Russian citizens to live in Lithuania, reads the document. Furthermore, Kostin asked the Lithuanian MP to inquire about the process of restitution of land rights in the Trakai district and the possibility of putting his mother in a retirement home.

The department emphasized that Kostin’s operations in representing the Rosatom interests runs counter to the Lithuanian state stance on the Astravyets NPP. Lithuania’s government maintains the nuclear utility is being built in violation of safety standards and can be used by Russia to derail the synchronization of the Baltic electricity grids with the Western world.

According to the report, Bastys has known Kostin, born in Ukraine in 1950, since 2001-2002 and they are rather close, as the MP even attended presentation of Kostin’s book in Moscow.

The State Security Department said in its conclusion that state secrets would also be threatened by Bastys’ links with a former KGB agent, Piotr Voyeiko, who has asked for the Lithuanian MP’s support in the settlement of problems in connection to Gazprom’s mediator Dujotekana of Lithuania and the Kaunas thermoelectric power plant. The department said that Bastys in 2013 had asked Voyeiko for financial assistance on the behalf of his acquaintances.

According to the intelligence information, Bastys is in personal contact with Russian journalist Ernest Matskevich of Lithuanian origin whose broadcasts on the RTR channel publishes misinformation about Lithuania, as well as former Kaunas mafia boss Saturnas Dubininkas who represents the interests of Russian and Belarusian businessmen in Lithuania’s strategic economic sectors.

The department’s letter also notes the relationship between Bastys’ family with businessman Vadimas Pachomovas who has been on trial for bribery and other corruption charges.