Intelligence: Lithuania’s Tatars targetted by Russia, Muslims abroad

According to the document, Russia is very much interested in having foreign Tatar communities represented by persons who favor the Russian annexation of the Crimea peninsula. The Western world accuse Russia of ever-escalating repressions of the Tatars living in the annexed Crimea.

“Over the past years, Russia has sought to increase its influence upon the Tatar community of Lithuania,” reads the report published by the State Security Department and the Second Investigations Department under the Defence Ministry.

“Initiatives are currently developed to undermine the influence of some current leaders of Lithuania’s Tatars and create new alternative organizations of local Tatars,” the document suggests.

According to the intelligence institutions, Russia also seeks to take advantage of the disputes of Poles living in eastern Lithuania, and Russian diplomats “have repeatedly stressed violations of rights of Russian and Polish communities in Lithuania.”

“Russia aims to integrate the agenda of the Russian community with the constant demands for exclusive rights to the Polish community of the Vilnius area. Granting of exclusive rights to the Polish community would pave way for Russia and its groups of influence to demand analogous rights and, ultimately, an exclusive status for Russian communities in all Baltic states,” reads the report.

“The Russian objectives are supported by the political cooperation between Russian community coordinated by Russian Embassy in Vilnius with the individuals representing the Polish community of the Vilnius region,” the intelligence institutions said.

According to the latest census of 2011, Poles made 6.6 percent and Russians 5.8 percent of the Lithuanian population.