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A court in the city of Šiauliai, in northern Lithuania, has begun to try six foreign citizens accused of terrorism for planning an arson attack against military equipment intended for Ukraine, in an operation that investigators attribute to the Russian military intelligence service GRU.
According to information from the Lithuanian National Television and Radio (LRT), the trial commenced with the reading of the charges by prosecutor Tomas Uldukis. None of the six defendants—citizens of Belarus, Colombia, Spain, Cuba, and Russia—pleaded guilty, and all attended the hearing in person.
According to the accusation, the group made two attempts to set fire in September 2024 against the facilities of TVC Solutions, a company based in Šiauliai that manufactures mobile spectrum analysis stations for the Ukrainian armed forces.
The target equipment was valued at up to 1.5 million euros and was attacked on the nights of September 17 and 22, 2024.
During the first attempt, two suspects brought incendiary materials to the location but fled upon seeing passersby. They were arrested later that same day in Riga during a joint Lithuanian-Latvian operation and were transferred to Lithuania.
In the second attempt, a Russian citizen and a Belarusian believed they had started a fire, but investigators determined that no damage occurred because the materials did not catch fire to the equipment.
A Cuban citizen involved in the case —a resident of Russia— arrived the next day, supposedly to assess the damage, and was arrested before she could leave the country.
Lithuanian authorities are also internationally searching for three fugitives linked to the case: Alexeis Pecora (Cuban, born in 1991), Oemis Romagoza Durruthy (Cuban-Russian, born in 1991), and Mayra Eukaris De La Lastra Nistal (Cuban-Spanish, born in 1965), who are believed to be in Russia.
A Colombian intermediary suspected of managing the group's finances was extradited from Spain in May 2025, while a fourth suspect was arrested in Colombia and is currently undergoing extradition proceedings.
The Prosecutor General of Lithuania stated that the data from the preliminary investigation provides reasonable grounds to suspect that the attempted sabotage in Šiauliai was carried out on the orders and for the benefit of Russia's GRU, with the aim of intimidating society and obstructing European support for Ukraine.
This context is set within a broader scenario in which the European Parliament approved an amendment to review and suspend privileged cooperation with countries that collaborate with Moscow, and where Russia has recruited at least 20,000 Cubans as mercenaries to fight in Ukraine.
According to LRT, "the next hearing, scheduled for May, will begin the questioning of ten witnesses. The process is being conducted behind closed doors to protect official and commercial secrets, and some witnesses are expected to be granted anonymity."
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