Law enforcement stated that actions in the pre-trial investigation were carried out in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia in cooperation with law enforcement agencies of these countries and with coordination by Lithuanian representatives at Eurojust, the European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation.
On 14 January 2025, FNTT officers carried out searches, detained individuals related to sanction evasion schemes, questioned the suspects and witnesses. Allegations have been made against ten individuals.
A citizen of the Russian Federation detained in Lithuania was placed under arrest for one month, whereas different non-custodial remand measures were imposed against other suspects.
It is suspected that the citizen of the Russian Federation, who has a temporary residence permit in Lithuania, organised the supply of Lithuanian-made high-tech equipment for entities related to the Russian defence and security industry.
When the State Security Department (VSD) obtained such information, the Financial Crime Investigation Service (FNTT) launched a pre-trial investigation regarding the violation of international sanctions and restrictive measures imposed under Lithuanian laws.
The Russian citizen is suspected of actively cooperating with entities linked to the Russian defence and security industry, and organising international sanction evasion schemes.
It is suspected that the Russian citizen had a wide network of business contacts in Russia, received equipment orders from Russian entities and organised the supply of products they had requested. Export of such equipment to Russia is prohibited under EU sanctions.
Based on the available data, the Russian citizen supplied Lithuanian-made products to Russian institutions conducting research in the defence and security sector, as well as to Russian scientific bodies, institutes and other entities.
According to the officers, the main sanction evasion tactics have not changed. Long chains of intermediaries are created and companies operating in third countries are used for evading sanctions and goods are exported to Russian companies that are still exempt from sanctions. Later, the products are transferred to the actual recipients linked to the Russian defence and security industry.