Lithuania announces foiling "sabotage and murder plots" across Europe

Lithuania announced the arrest of nine people on charges of planning murders and sabotage across Europe, and accused the Russian military intelligence agency known as GRU of being behind them, according to The New York Times.

Details of the operation date back to last spring, when Ruslan Gabbasov, a minority rights advocate who fled Russia in 2021, found an Apple AirTag hidden under the hood of his car, prompting authorities in Lithuania to open a wide-ranging investigation that lasted a full year.

According to a statement issued by the Lithuanian police, the dismantled group is behind surveillance operations of Greek military installations, and also set fire to military equipment in Bulgaria that was destined for Ukraine.

Among those arrested was a man in his fifties, who was apprehended outside Gabbasov's home in Lithuania where he lives with his wife and five-year-old son. Police reported that the man, who holds Greek and Russian nationalities, was armed with a pistol.

Gabbasov said he was at a McDonald's restaurant drinking coffee when police called him in a panic, telling him: "You don't realize the extent of the danger surrounding you."

Gabbasov added in a phone interview with the American newspaper: "I knew I was being targeted by Russian intelligence, but I didn't expect it to go as far as murder."

Previous Incidents

This case is an example of Russian threats, as Western countries see it, while Moscow denies these accusations. Western intelligence officials believe that dismantling institutions such as NATO and the European Union, and undermining Western diplomatic relations, remains a key objective in Russian President Vladimir Putin's foreign policy.

In parallel with military operations in Ukraine, Russian intelligence agencies have launched "a sabotage campaign in Europe that has escalated over the years, from acts of vandalism to bombings, arson, and murder plots," according to intelligence agencies in several European countries.

The main countries supporting Ukraine, and anti-Putin Russians in exile, were the primary targets. Railway lines in Poland used to transport military equipment were blown up, and warehouses in Britain and Spain storing goods destined for Ukraine were set on fire.

The most dangerous of these schemes, according to The New York Times, involved planting incendiary devices inside parcels intended for shipment on DHL aircraft. Two of these devices exploded at shipping facilities in Britain and Germany, while another exploded inside a truck in Poland.

Lithuania, which was the starting point for DHL parcels, also led this investigation, which has so far resulted in the arrest of more than a dozen people, most of whom were agents recruited by Russian intelligence agencies online with promises of financial gain, according to Lithuanian authorities.

Russia Denies Accusations

Western officials say that the use of proxy agents is a common strategy for Russian intelligence agencies. Last Wednesday, German authorities announced the arrest of a Kazakh citizen accused of providing Russian intelligence agencies with information about German military support for Ukraine.

Russia has repeatedly denied its intelligence agencies' involvement in acts of sabotage or murder.

In the Gabbasov case, Lithuanian authorities stated that the network they dismantled included citizens from Greece, Ukraine, Russia, Georgia, Latvia, Moldova, and Lithuania.

A statement issued by the Lithuanian police reported that the investigation "proved direct links between the perpetrators and the individuals who issued the murder orders, who work for the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces," which is the official name of the Russian military intelligence agency GRU.

Sauliaus Briginas, Deputy Chief of the Lithuanian Criminal Police Bureau, said at a press conference last Monday: "We are facing a series of hybrid criminal acts that actually target EU countries and their national security interests, and individuals who support Ukraine in one way or another. The nature and objectives of these criminal acts are consistent with the objectives of the Russian Federation."

Lithuanian authorities did not disclose many details about these plots, merely stating that a number of individuals who supported Ukraine or worked against Russia were targeted for murder, without specifying their number, and most of their identities were not identified.

Cat and Mouse Game

After informing authorities about the AirTag tracking device, Gabbasov, 46 years old, said he was used as bait in a "cat and mouse game" with those who wanted to kill him. Lithuanian police installed surveillance cameras at his home and near his car. He was asked to inform the police whenever he planned to leave home and when he planned to return.

But in March of last year, Gabbasov forgot to inform them when he left his home with his family to attend celebrations for Lithuania's independence from the Soviet Union. While he was at a McDonald's restaurant, an armed man positioned himself in front of his house.

He said police told him the man, who was arrested, was dressed and ready to wait "all night," if necessary, until Gabbasov returned, though they provided few other details.

Gabbasov told the newspaper that police offered him to join a witness protection program, but he refused because he did not want to abandon his activism. He is fighting for the independence of his homeland, Bashkortostan, a Muslim-majority region in central Russia.

In response, Russian authorities offered a reward for information leading to his arrest and placed him on Russia's "terrorist watch list." Last March, he was sentenced in absentia to 14 years in prison.