Lithuania tightens rules for border guards’ travels abroad after intelligence reports

Chief border guard Renatas Požėla said that border guards who want to travel to foreign countries, except for countries of NATO, the European Union and the Schengen zone, for work-related or personal reasons have to fill out a questionnaire and submit it to the service’s immunity units.

Furthermore, border guards travelling abroad for work-related reasons have been advised to turn to immunity officers for consultations about possible threats. In case of private trips, the consultations are a recommendation.

According to the decree, in case of incidents in connection to information security the employees would be summoned to immunity units, with the circumstances of the incident forwarded to intelligence institutions – the State Security Department and the Second Investigation Department under the Ministry of National Defence.

The State Border Guard Service did not disclose the content of the questionnaire.

In late March, the State Security Department reported increased number of Belarusian attempts last year to recruit Lithuanian officers travelling to Belarus.

“Officers of territorial units of the State Border Guard Service and the Interior Ministry going to Belarus on a regular basis for cheaper goods or other work unrelated purposes were an especially ‘convenient’ target of Belarusian security services,” the department said in a report.

According to the report, Belarus’ special services have a particular interest in information about territorial units of the Lithuanian border service and the police: personnel, numbers of officers, premises, vehicles, technical measures of border protection, etc.