They found out that companies owned by shareholders from two Lithuanian business groups, Novikontas and Garant Group, take part in state procurement tenders in Russia. Linked through its shareholders with Novikontas, RSB Kaliningrad has received over a dozen of orders from the Russian Federal Security Service and carries out work on Russia's special-purpose ships. Some of the work is funded from Russia's defense budget.
The LRT investigation team also discovered that RSB Kaliningrad sold and installed communication equipment on a Russian ship which is mentioned in a security report in Lithuania over attempts to spy in the Baltic Sea.
Enterprises belonging to Novikontas have won tenders of the Lithuanian army and the strategic port of Klaipeda. The latter turned to a government commission assessing risks over deals with Novikontas last year but it was concluded that they match national security interests.
Clients of enterprises linked to Garant Group in Russia include a subsidiary of the Rosneft oil group, as well as Atomflot operating a fleet of nuclear icebreakers. An enterprise owned by a Garant shareholder has also had a contracts with the Russian Federal Security Service in Kaliningrad.
Garant Group's clients in Lithuania include the Lithuanian army, the State Border Guard Service, the port of Klaipeda and Klaipedos Nafta operating the Klaipeda-based LNG terminal.
Experts have told the LRT that the success in Russia's state tenders might be non-incidental. The United States subject Russia's FSS to sanctions and bans businesses from making contracts with it. There are no such sanctions in the EU and Lithuania.