VSD head: No need to raise terrorism threat level in Lithuania

The government has recently announced that an anti-terrorist unit under the State Security Department will be restored and that the department will coordinate the anti-terrorist action. Mr. Jauniškis commented on that, saying “I would like to emphasise that the institution has been working even before the events in Paris. When I came to the department, I declared that this function would be restored, that the department would not shun the anti-terrorism function, and we slowly started doing it.”

When asked if it was true that the anti-terrorist unit had been abolished because of the lost connections with the allies, especially Americans, Mr. Jauniškis answered that “we really have not lost the connections. We still maintain strong connections.”

Mr. Jauniškis stated that the so-called fifth column, which could be activated inside the country, is currently considered as a bigger threat to Lithuania than terrorist suicide bombers from the Islamic State.

Mr. Jauniškis also said that a reference to Lithuania in a recent propaganda video of the Islamic State had similarities with propaganda offensives by Russia. Mr. Jauniškis said that “there are very interesting parallels between these messages. We cannot deny the fact the messages are purposefully sent to us. I would like to say that currently we do not see any reason to raise the level of terrorism threat.”