A Russian military intelligence operation was carried out at the Registry Centre (RC), Laurynas Kasčiūnas, the Chairman of the Homeland Union-Lithuanian Christian Democrats (TS-LKD) and a former minister of National Defence, claims on the lrytas programme Decoding the Essence with Dovydas Pancerovas, lrytas.lt reported.
“Let’s lay out on the table the events that have taken place this year: the explosives in the DHL package—GRU; IKEA—GRU; the defence industry company in Šiauliai, where an operation was thwarted—GRU. It’s becoming clear everywhere that Russian military intelligence and its operations are involved. We often learn about these operations from an article in the New York Times—that the GRU was here, that it was active.
I believe that the current RC situation we are living in is also not without the involvement of Russian military intelligence, which specialises specifically in cybercrimes. So far, no one can confirm this information, but no one is denying it either,” said Kasčiūnas.
On the Lrytas program Decoding the Essence with Dovydas Pancerovas, the politician asserted that at least two ministers—Minister of Economy and Innovation Edvinas Grikšas and Minister of the Interior Vladislav Kondratovič—should resign over the theft of real estate records from the Centre of Registers.
He sees several ways the stolen data could be used
The Russian Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU), as Kasčiūnas explained, specialises in cyber operations. Still, in the case of the RC data breach, the conservative politician sees it as more of an intelligence operation than a cyber one.
“In the early days, they tried to tell us that this was yet another—but a major—cybercrime. This is not a cybercrime. This is an intelligence operation using cybercrime methods. The GRU works with various cybercrime networks—both its own and others.
It is very likely that we have been scanned and that our data have been geographically extracted: all of Vilnius and the coastal areas have been scanned and data extracted. They ran out of time to scan the whole of Lithuania. It seems they only took real estate data. Yes, but look, with all this, they can employ various tactics,” asserted Kasčiūnas.
The former minister of national defence explained that if real estate data is handed over to criminals, various fraud schemes could begin. In other words, attempts to swindle people out of their money could occur.
“Speaking of more serious matters, what I would most like to draw attention to is our intelligence personnel. Once you know his first and last name and where he lives, you can map out his entire real estate portfolio—you already have that information.
This could lead to several scenarios: at the very least, the GRU will publish blocklists on its websites, and there, for example, the names of our officers along with their addresses will appear. This is a brutal, demoralising means of pressure—on the official, his family, and, of course, the state.
Then they can test out various operational models. If this is an official of importance to them, they can operate on the ground, installing surveillance and eavesdropping equipment near his home,” he warned.
According to the politician, among other things, the GRU can prepare for various future scenarios by obtaining the addresses of military personnel, because in the event of an attack they become targets.
“We know who is targeted first in the initial stages. Possessing such information is, obviously, a huge danger—to those people whose decisions may determine certain models of state operation,” Kasčiūnas commented on the situation.
What happened with the RC data is very serious, the former minister is convinced.
“Some will try to brush it off, saying that someone just has something here, no big deal—no, this is serious business. If it’s the Russian special services, and I have almost no doubt about that, we have serious security problems,” the conservative politician made clear.
Kasčiūnas stated that criminals had also stolen his own data. On RC, he saw that information about his real estate had been stolen on two separate occasions—one property in February and another in early April.
“For those of us who have already been compromised, there’s nothing we can do. In other words, that’s how it is—that data is likely already in the wrong hands. We need to be honest about this,” the former minister acknowledged.
They’ve found a scapegoat—will politicians remain safe?
The politician expressed hope that the government led by Inga Ruginienė would kick into high gear and address the security gaps. Still, he doubted that anyone from this ruling majority would take political responsibility for the theft of sensitive personal data.
“I hope that at least within the institutions this will be done, but I’m not sure if there will be the political will to do so and coordinate it. I see that the government’s biggest problem right now is how to get out of this unscathed. They’ve found a scapegoat—the RC director,” remarked Kasčiūnas.
As a reminder, a few days after the scandal broke, Adrijus Jusas announced his resignation. Both the prime minister and the minister of economy and innovation have now called on the former RC director to step down.
“I believe we shouldn’t reduce everything to a technical level, as is being attempted, but clearly state that there must also be political accountability,” the conservative noted.
According to him, Grikšas and Kondratovič should be held accountable—one oversees the Centre of Registers, the other the Migration Department, through which public data was leaked.
“I believe that two ministers—at the very least,” the Conservative said with conviction.
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