Lithuania Expels 22 Belarusian IT Specialists Over National Security Threat

Lithuania’s State Security Department (VSD) has deemed 22 Belarusian citizens a threat to the country’s national security and initiated their expulsion.

LRT reports this, citing Lithuania’s intelligence agency.

All 22 Belarusian citizens worked for the same tech company.

Lithuanian intelligence submitted its findings on their activities to the Migration Department, after which the authorities revoked their temporary residence permits and expelled them from the country.

All 22 were also banned from returning to Lithuania or entering the Schengen Area for five years.

The decision followed the activities of a tech company involved in a project for the EU Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA).

The project involved developing high-precision satellite navigation receivers based on the Galileo High Accuracy Service for agricultural use.

According to the investigation, the company fraudulently obtained nearly €500,000 by concealing its ties to the Russian and Belarusian military industries.

The investigation was conducted by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office and Lithuania’s Financial Crime Investigation Service in cooperation with the VSD.

The project’s total budget exceeded €1 million, and EUSPA funded more than €745,000. The company ultimately received €447,272 in European funding.

The Lithuanian intelligence agency did not specify what role each of the 22 Belarusian citizens played in the company’s operations. However, authorities ordered their expulsion after assessing their activities as a threat to Lithuania’s national security.

Militarnyi previously reported that six foreign nationals in Lithuania had been charged with planning a terrorist attack against a private company that supplied equipment to Ukraine’s Defense Forces.