A special unit was protecting a number of Russian opposition figures in Lithuania during Russia’s presidential election, the authorities said, adding that the operation is now over. It came in the wake of an attack on Alexei Navalny’s associate in Vilnius.
The function was performed by the Operational Response Counter-attack Team (ORKA), the special unit of Lithuania’s Public Security Service, said acting commander Arūnas Paulauskas on Thursday.
“In cooperation with the police and other units, we contributed to this function,” he said.
Asked whether the official response and the security situation changed after the recent attack in Vilnius on Leonid Volkov, an associate of late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, he said that the situation was under control.
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“Fortunately, there has been no increase in assaults. Speaking of opposition members, fortunately, there have been none of them [assaults]. At the moment, the situation is sufficiently under control and we are not devoting additional capacity to it. [...] At the moment, we are not protecting anyone because the protection operation is over,” Palauskas said.
ORKA chief Ričardas Alzbergas told reporters that the protection of opposition members was one of the latest operations carried out by the special unit when ORKA officers assisted other services.
He did not disclose the specific timing of the operation but noted that it lasted “several weeks”. He later told BNS that it took place before and after the Russian presidential election.
“These people are now at the disposal of other services,” Alzbergas said.
He did not name the exact number of opposition figures protected by ORKA but said there were “up to 10” of them.
In his words, Volkov was not under the protection of the Public Security Service’s special forces at the time of the attack.
“This person was not part of our task, we were not conducting an operation at that time,” the ORKA chief said.
Volkov was attacked in mid-March in Vilnius in a car near his home.
Navalny’s former spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh said that the attacker broke the car window, tear-gassed him and started hitting Volkov with a meat hammer.
An investigation into the incident continues.
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