SSD: Putin’s chef J.Prigožinas’ affiliate visited Lithuania – took photos in the Seimas, the Ministry of Transport and Communications, the Palace of Rulers

February 10 last year 15 minutes wrote that A private plane belonging to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s ally Yevgeny Prigozin is at Vilnius airport.

The oligarch financed a “troll factory” that interfered in the US presidential elections.

The Lithuanian media explained what this plane was doing at the Vilnius airport.

“Two Russian citizens and the crew traveled on the plane. Their documents were checked, all the planned procedures were carried out. Neither of them is subject to sanctions, both can legally enter the Schengen area,” then 15 minutes said Giedrius Mišutis, representative of the State Border Guard Service.

The State Security Department (SSD) and Second Department of Operational Services (AOTD) “Threat to National Security Threats” released Thursday provide more details on the incident.

According to the document, in early 2020, the Hawker 800 aircraft belonging to J. Prrigožin was flown to the Vilnius airport.

At the same time, a person who possessed a passport of a citizen of the Russian Federation issued in the name of Yevgeny Prigozhin, who resembled J. Prigozhin himself, twice arrived in Lithuania on a passenger plane, but it was not this oligarch close to the Kremlin regime.

According to the document, the date of birth indicated in the passport held by J. Prigožinas’ second brother-in-law was the same as that of the oligarch himself: June 1, 1961.

I had come to Lithuania twice

According to VSD and AOTD, for the first time the second partner of J.Prigožinas arrived from Russia to Vilnius on a regular flight on February 13, 2020.

He went to the building of the Ministry of Transport and Communications, took pictures and returned to Russia on a regular flight after returning to the airport.

From the airport, he went to the building of the Ministry of Transport, took pictures and returned to Russia on a regular flight after returning to the airport.

Security officials emphasize that he only spent five and a half hours on Lithuanian territory.

After a while, on February 26, the second partner of J.Prigožinas flew to Lithuania for the second time on a regular flight.

He took photos at the Seimas, the National Museum of Lithuania and the Palace of the Rulers and went to Belarus by train on February 27, 2020, although he had a plane ticket for the flight on the same day.

Meetings with a representative from the ministry were announced.

The National Security Threat Assessment prepared by our intelligence services emphasizes that last year the Russian propaganda portals used the name of J.Prigožinas in an information attack against Lithuania, which used only one factual fact: that a plane belonging to J.Prigožin was transferred to Vilnius. Airport.

According to the VSD and AOTD document, the Russian tabloid news portal sobesednik.ru announced the false accusations that on February 10, 2020, oligarch J. Pražžinas allegedly arrived in Lithuania on a Hawker 800 aircraft and discussed information technology projects in Lithuania with a high-ranking representative of the Ministry of Transport and Communications.

The second sobesednik.ru article announced that J.Prigožinas again
He arrived in Vilnius and visited the Seimas, because, despite the sanctions applied to him, he has the opportunity to travel within the European Union.

The articles were illustrated with photos of the supporter of J.Prigožinas near the Lithuanian state institutions.

Articles reinforced by printing were illustrated with photos of J. Prigožinas supporter near Lithuanian state institutions.

According to the document, other Russian internet portals also reported on J.Prigožinas’ alleged visits to Vilnius, supplementing the false story with new non-essential details: J.Prigožinas allegedly met not only with influential officials, but also with Lithuanian companies. leaders, and a portal announced that it had received the indignation of the deputy chairman of the Defense and National Security Committee of the Seimas that J. Prrigožinas can visit Lithuania without obstacles.

“In fact, the second place of J.Prigožinas in Vilnius did not meet with any representatives of the Lithuanian government or companies mentioned in the publications of the Russian portals.

It is likely that this provocation was aimed at finding entry violations into the Schengen area, inciting distrust of Lithuanian society and the NATO and EU states in the 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, since only small Russian tabloid portals published false information and it did not resonate in Lithuania or in other NATO and EU countries, ”it reads in the National Security Threat Assessment.

From Troll Factories to Wagner Mercenaries

The so-called “troll factories”, propaganda portals or mercenaries of the private military company Wagner, associated with Prrigozhin, operate all over the world, implementing projects of Russian political, military and informational influence.

In 2019, the United States imposed sanctions on Prigozhin for trying to influence the elections.

In October 2020, Prigožinas was included in the list of people sanctioned by the EU for violations of the embargo on the supply of arms to Libya announced by the United Nations.