National Security Committee of Lithuania’s chief: Belarus creates spy ring in our country

Arturas Paulauskas has stated that Lithuanian special services have delivered a powerful strike on the Belarusian spy ring.

The deputy of the Seimas of Lithuania, chairman of the parliamentary National Security and Defence Committee Paulauskas believes that a powerful strike has been received by the spy ring created in Lithuania by Belarus, eurobelarus.info informs with a reference to lrt.lt.

According to him, among Lithuanian citizens Belarusian intelligence officers had been looking for people “ready to work for them, sell secrets of the Lithuanian Republic”. However after a long and difficult work, the counter-intelligence managed to uncover this ring.

Arturas Paulauskas stated that the matter concerns intelligence officers of the Belarusian GRU – the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Belarusian Armed Forces’ General Staff.

He is sure that Belarusians exchange information with their Russian colleagues. The Lithuanian politician does not rule out that they have not succeeded in uncovering and arresting all agents of Belarusian secret services.

As said by the chairman of the Parliamentary National Security and Defence Committee of Lithuania, it is necessary to improve financing of the Lithuanian State Security Department, especially in the sphere of counterintelligence.

The government of Lithuania will have to decide whether to increase financing of the State Security Department (VSD) by 1.15 mln Lt (333,000 Euro) next year, BNS informs. This decision has been adopted by the parliamentary Committee on Budget and Finances, after studying proposals of the National Security and Defence Committee to allocate additional funds to security and law enforcing agencies of the country next year.

Arturas Paulauskas stated that “nothing could be done” with the funds allocated to the activities of the VSD now (400,000 Lt). “Could this agency work with such financing? If it were not for the money of our partners, the State Security Department would be capable of nothing,” Paulauskas is vexed.

“Additional financing is needed, in order to carry out serious counterintelligence activities,” he said.

On the proposal of the Lithuanian government, in the budget of the next year it is planned to give in total 23.6 mln Euro (more than 81 mln Lt) to the State Security Department. The same sum has been earmarked to this agency this year.