In Lithuania, a married couple gathered information for the Belarusian special services about the country's armed forces, NATO facilities, and the Belarusian opposition. The man received a seven-year prison sentence, while his wife got six and a half.
On April 15, the Klaipeda District Court found Lithuanian couple Mindaugas Januitis and Tatjana Beletskaya guilty of espionage in favor of Belarus. The man was sentenced to seven years in prison, while his wife received six and a half years, reported Lithuanian media LRT on Wednesday, April 15.
According to the investigation, in May 2022, Beletskaya and Januitis traveled to Minsk, where they were recruited by the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Belarus. They then collected and transmitted information about the Lithuanian armed forces, the voluntary defense system, the Union of Riflemen, which Januitis temporarily joined, as well as NATO forces and armaments in the country, Belarusian opposition in Lithuania, and Lithuanians who could potentially be recruited until November 2023.
The couple provided the obtained information to the Belarusian special services, for which they received a reward of over 8,000 euros. These funds will be transferred to the Lithuanian treasury.
According to the prosecutor, the couple did not gain access to classified data. However, the information collected by Januitis and Beletskaya is reportedly important for foreign armies in preparing "plans for military aggression" or other actions against Lithuania.
Estonia Reports the Detention of 16 Russian Intelligence Agents
In Estonia, a record number of accomplices of Russian intelligence services - 16 people - have been detained since the beginning of 2025, reported the head of the country's Security Police, Margus Pallu. According to him, most of these individuals worked for the FSB, while some were agents of the Russian military intelligence, formerly known as the GRU. The overwhelming majority of those detained did not have access to sensitive information or government institutions.
"Regarding the activities of all 16 Russian agents, it can be said that they were stopped at a relatively early stage. They did not manage to cause significant harm to Estonia's security," emphasized Pallu. He stated that the relatively large number of detainees "does not indicate an increase in the level of threat but reflects the preventive work of internal security."
The head of the Security Police of Estonia also pointed out that Russian subversive activities are now largely conducted through social media. As an example, he mentioned the recently emerged anonymous channels on social media calling for the separation of the city of Narva, located on the border with the Russian Federation, from Estonia, as reported by "Deutsche Welle."
Leave a comment