Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda believes that criticism of the proposed amendments to the law on intelligence, expanding the powers of special services, is far-fetched.

“I really do not understand why this soap bubble originated,” Nauseda said during a conversation with the Lithuanian radio station LRT.

The amendments legitimize the practice of so-called preventive conversations - invitations of citizens living in Lithuania to meet with special services in case of suspicion of possible contacts with foreign intelligence. In addition, employees of departments will have the right to verify documents, make administrative arrests of citizens, and also monitor the movement of funds in bank accounts without a court decision.

During the interview, Nauseda assured that such measures would affect a very limited circle of citizens who are “in sight” of foreign intelligence services.

“For 99.99% of the inhabitants of Lithuania this is completely irrelevant, they will never be in the field of view of foreign intelligence services,” the Lithuanian president explained.

  • Gitanas Nauseda
  • © Ints Kalnins / Reuters

At the same time, experts note that the language contained in the law is vague and can create the prerequisites for abuse in the field of human rights.

For example, special services officers will be able to summon a citizen for a preventive conversation and, if they wish, make an administrative arrest if they receive “evidence that the person may be associated with activities that may increase the risk or pose a threat to the national security or state interests of Lithuania”.

According to political scientists, a wide range of various actions, for example, critical comments on social networks, can be adapted to this wording.

The amendments proposed by the President of Lithuania were prepared by the Department of State Security and the Second Department of Operations at the Ministry of Defense. According to Nauseda, they must be adopted in order to ensure the security of Lithuania in the conditions of “hybrid threats”.

“The state is obliged to possess such tools in order to protect its security, because otherwise, it’s likely that we will all go together in pairs in our pocket to our enemies, chanting funny songs,” the head of state said.

“Please provide some power”

Rejected criticism of the new amendments and Director of the Department of State Security of Lithuania (DGB) Darius Jauniskis. According to him, the application of the measures described in the bill will not violate human rights, and public discussions on this issue are groundless.

  • Vilnius Cathedral Square
  • © Igor Zarembo / RIA News

“These amendments to the law have been discussed for a long time. I am deeply convinced that this, of course, is not connected with any violations of human rights, ”he said.

Jauniškis also reiterated the president’s argument that this measure would affect an extremely small number of people. According to him, for a year there are from 10 to 15 such citizens.

“We ask to provide some power so that we are on an equal footing with the police, with the army, which already have these rights, and for some reason the security officers do not have them,” he said.

At the same time, Lithuanian Prime Minister Saulius Skvernialis said that the expansion of the powers of special services should be accompanied by increased political control by the legislature. To this end, he proposed the creation of the post of Ombudsman or parliamentary controller for the activities of special services.

In an interview with RT, Vladimir Shapovalov, deputy director of the Institute of History and Politics of Moscow State Pedagogical University, noted that preventive conversations are a norm that violates human rights.

“It is impossible to imagine such actions in normally functioning democracies. This initiative is directed against the Russian Federation and those Lithuanian citizens whom the authorities and special services want to accuse of mythical ties with Russia. This norm will become the basis for the persecution of dissidents, ”said the expert.

Persecution in Russian

Recall that over the years, the Lithuanian secret services have repeatedly used accusations of involvement in working for Moscow against citizens who did not support the official political course of Vilnius.

So, in December 2014, ex-officer of the Lithuanian Armed Forces Sergey Pushchin and a Russian citizen Sergey Moiseenko were arrested in the republic, who were accused of espionage in favor of Russia. They were sentenced to five and ten and a half years in prison, respectively.

In December 2018, Lithuanian secret services reported the discovery of a “spy network” that allegedly worked for Russia. Among the arrested citizens was the well-known opposition politician Algirdas Paleckis - an ex-deputy of the Seimas and a former vice-mayor of the Lithuanian capital, whom in 2011 they tried to judge for trying to question the version of the events of the authorities around the Vilnius television center in January 1991.

  • Algirdas Paleckis
  • © Ramil Sitdikov / RIA Novosti

According to Paleckis, the responsibility for the deaths of 15 civilians lies not with Soviet soldiers, but with provocateurs from among the supporters of Lithuanian independence.

In the case of the shooting of demonstrators in March 2019, Russian citizens Yuri Mel and Gennady Ivanov were convicted. The first received seven years in prison, and the second - four.

In addition, Paleckis, together with writer Valery Ivanov, Lithuanian politicians Leonidas Minkevičius and Arturas Sidlauskas, were accused of treason.

At the beginning of 2019, the Department of State Security and military intelligence presented a report regarding the assessment of Lithuanian security threats, in which Russia was given an important place. It stated that the Russian special services allegedly seek to recruit people “ideologically close” to Moscow, as well as those who served in the Soviet army and often travel to Russia and Belarus and have relatives of Lithuanian citizens there.

According to the director general of the Center for Political Information, Alexei Mukhin, despite the fact that the Baltic countries declare their commitment to European values, including human rights, in fact, these concepts are interpreted there in a very peculiar way.

“Russia tried to urge its Western partners to clearly formulate a code of conduct for these countries, which could be followed, but so far these attempts have been unsuccessful. The EU and the OSCE are turning a blind eye to human rights violations in the Baltic states, ”the expert said in an interview with RT.

In turn, Shapovalov explained that the situation with a gross violation of human rights in the Baltic states was caused by the absence of their own political culture in these countries.

“They, on the one hand, declare their commitment to the values ​​of the EU, including human rights, and on the other, use harsh and undemocratic methods to put pressure on the Russian-speaking population, since they lack their own established political practices. Their elites have no experience of functioning within the framework of a democratic political system, ”said Shapovalov.

Moreover, the EU countries use the Baltic states as a kind of “buffer” between themselves and Russia and therefore turn a blind eye to such actions by the authorities of Lithuania and other countries of the region, the expert said.

“Any unlawful actions of the Baltic countries in Europe are intentionally closed, because they use the Baltic states as a springboard against Russia. In this matter, the Lithuanian authorities have a wide credit of trust on the part of the Western community, therefore, for the anti-Russian position they are forgiven of the sins associated with the violation of human rights, ”Shapovalov concluded.