Many Russian spies are operating in Lithuania, expert says

“I can only guess that in this case it should be a Russian spy, although he might have also worked through a Belarusian structure. Nevertheless, the main country which needs that is Russia,” the political scientist told BNS on Wednesday. “No matter what the level we are speaking about, there are masses of those spies in Lithuania. We really cannot be glad about the fact that they have not been caught so far.”

Earlier on Wednesday, the Prosecutor General‘s Office said that an Air Force officer is suspected of having spied for a foreign country and provided it with classified information. The person whom the detained officer supplied the information is also in custody.

Lieutenant Colonel Vidmantas Raklevičius, commander of the Air Base of the Lithuanian Air Force, confirmed that the suspect has served at the base for 10 years. He did not disclose the foreign country he spied for, however.

This is a third case over the past two months when the Lithuanian law enforcement have reported about spying cases. An army paramedic and a former employee of the state-run company Oro Navigacija (Air Navigation) has recently been charged with spying for Belarus

“It’s rather strange to me, to be honest, that only a third person has been identified. It’s a common secret that almost half of staff at the (Russian) embassy are spies,” Laurinavičius said.