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The episode is described in the National Security Threat Assessment released by the Department of Homeland Security (SSD) and the Second Department of Operational Services (AOTD) on Thursday.
In early 2020, the Hawker 800 aircraft owned by J. Prigožin was flown to Vilnius airport. A few days later, a man flew to Lithuania, who remembers J. Prigožinas with his facial features. His passport also includes the oligarch’s name and his identical date of birth.
“For the first time, the second partner of J. Prigožinas flew from Russia to Vilnius on a regular flight in 2020. on February 13. From the airport, he went to the building of the Ministry of Transport and Communications, took photos and returned to Russia in a regular flight, and he spent only five and a half hours in Lithuania, ”says the report.
Two weeks later, the “clone” of J. Prigožinas returned to Lithuania and stayed longer. He took photos at the Seimas, the National Museum of Lithuania and the Palace of the Rulers, and the next day he traveled to Belarus by train, although he had a plane ticket for the flight on the same day.
Why was this performance needed? Articles appeared on Russian news portals, in which it is written that J. Prigožinas met influential officials and businessmen during his visits to Lithuania, and the posts were supplemented with second-hand photos of the oligarch. A portal announced that it had received the indignation of the deputy chairman of the Seimas Defense and National Security Committee that J. Prigožinas could visit Lithuania without obstacles.
In fact, the subsidiary of J. Prigožinas did not meet with any representative of the Lithuanian government or of the companies mentioned in the publications of the Russian portals in Vilnius. It is likely that this provocation was aimed at finding entry violations into the Schengen area inciting distrust of Lithuanian society and NATO and EU states in Lithuanian authorities, trying to portray them as unreliable partners playing double games.
Despite the efforts and resources of the perpetrators, this information attack cannot be considered successful, as only small Russian tabloid portals published false information and it did not resonate in Lithuania or other NATO and EU countries, ”the article reads. report.
“It just came to our notice then. The second thing is to try to get media attention. In principle, by proving that our state institutions are ineffective, Prigožinas can visit the Seimas, the Ministry of Transport, take photos and walk freely. We are just waiting let that reaction cause a stir, so that later it is possible to mock and show which state is stupid, weak, ”explained Darius Jauniškis, director of the SSD.
However, according to the SSD chief, this was not the only such information attack by Russia. According to him, the probability of such attacks will remain, it is assumed that this year it may increase.
You can read the full National Security Threat Assessment by clicking this link.
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