By Edgaras Savickas, LRT.lt.

Companies registered in Lithuania have been used to help bypass international sanctions and gain access to Western technologies, according to the latest national security threat assessment released by the State Security Department of Lithuania and the Second Investigation Department under the Ministry of National Defence.

The annual report names three companies – BK Software, NTLab and Kosminis Vytis – as examples of how Russian and Belarusian-linked actors have used businesses in Lithuania to evade sanctions and acquire sensitive technologies.

According to the report, such schemes often involve reviving companies that have had little or no recent business activity.

Company linked to sanctioned supplier

One case cited in the report concerns BK Software, a Vilnius-based firm established in 2004 that previously operated under the name Baltijos kogeneracija until 2012.

The company is currently led and owned by Russian citizen Elena Lupandina, though until last November it was controlled by her husband, Kiril Lupandin.

Read more: LRT.LT