Lithuania's intelligence services on Wednesday accused Belarus and Russia of attempting to orchestrate attacks against the Belarusian community in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius.
The State Security Department, VSD, said the aim of the alleged operation was to incite conflict between Lithuanians and the tens of thousands of Belarusians residing in the Baltic state.
Many Belarusians, including opposition figures and activists, relocated to Lithuania after Minsk cracked down on dissent following the 2020 presidential election, which human rights groups deemed fraudulent.
“Since 2023, Russian and Belarusian intelligence services have been conducting operations to stir tensions between Lithuanian society and the Belarusian diaspora, to make them feel unsafe,” the VSD reported in a statement.
The agency accused Minsk and Moscow of recruiting individuals to organise, carry out, and film physical attacks on Belarusian exiles in exchange for cryptocurrency payments.
It said the planned attacks were thwarted but did not specify how or by whom.
The VSD also alleged that both countries were recruiting people to spray anti-Belarusian and anti-Lithuanian graffiti on walls in Vilnius.
European officials regularly accuse Russia of orchestrating hybrid warfare against Western countries that support Ukraine.
In March, Lithuania arrested two Ukrainian nationals who attempted to set fire to an Ikea store in Vilnius, an incident blamed on Russian intelligence services.
