A Lithuanian official on Thursday blamed Moscow for an attack this week on a Russian opposition figure, calling the incident "political terrorism."
Vilmantas Vitkauskas, head of Lithuania's National Crisis Management Center, made the accusation in regards to an attack on Kremlin critic Leonid Volkov in Vilnius.
Volkov recently served as the top aide to Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, whose death last month in an Arctic penal colony raised allegations about Russian President Vladimir Putin's possible involvement. (The Kremlin has denied claims connecting Putin to Navalny's death.) Volkov has lived in Lithuania, a member of NATO, since going into exile in 2019.
On Tuesday, Volkov was assaulted by an assailant who reportedly sprayed tear gas in his eyes and beat him repeatedly with a hammer. No arrests have been made, but Lithuania's intelligence agency issued a statement following the attack, alleging it was likely organized by Moscow in an effort to quell opposition before Russia's presidential election.
"It seems to be the work of the Russian special services, apparently done through some recruited person," intelligence chief Darius Jauniskis said during a Thursday press briefing.
While pointing the finger at the Kremlin, Vitkauskas described the attack on Volkov as "professional, well-planned and that whoever carried it out was either well-prepared or received very good instructions."
"This is the first time that such an incident of political aggression, of political terrorism, has happened on our soil," he told Lithuanian news outlet LRT.
When Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda discussed the attack, he did not rule out Moscow being involved.
"All of this adds up to a whole set of issues, incidents, where it is clear that such things are planned. We should not be surprised," Nausėda said, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).
He added: "As for Putin, I can only say one thing: No one is afraid of you here."
Volkov was more assertive in casting blame, writing on Telegram that the attack was "an obvious, typical criminal 'hello' from Putin."
"We will keep on working and we will not surrender," he wrote, according to a translation from Reuters. "It hard but we'll handle it ... It's good to know I'm still alive."
When asked about Volkov by reporters on Thursday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said he could not comment on an incident that happened in another country before adding a message about his president.
"You shouldn't be afraid of Putin. You should respect and listen to Putin," Peskov added.
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Jon Jackson is an Associate Editor at Newsweek based in New York. His focus is on reporting on the Ukraine ... Read more
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