The army was allegedly unaware that it was a Russian company the owners of which also serve Russia’s war machine.
Vilnius-based Eurosafe LT positions itself as a European capital company managed via Poland, according to Siena. It indicated Polish and Romanian nationals to be its final beneficiaries.
However, as it later turned out, the actual owners of Eurosafe LT are Russian businessmen engaged in similar activities in their homeland and supplying equipment to Russian military industry institutions.
In Lithuania, the company also did business with the Government, the Dignitary Protection Service and institutions under the Ministry of National Defence, according to Siena.
Outgoing National Defence Minister Laurynas Kasčiūnas has said he learnt about the owners of Eurosafe LT from Siena. He vowed to take measures to assess any risks linked to the firm’s owners and intends to „throw the safes through a window“, the report reads.
In some of the cases Eurosafe LT was found to have also undertaken to deliver and install the safes. Kasčiūnas, who has seen the information, revealed that he sees real threats to Lithuania’s national security.
"A Russian company with ties to the regime and the military industry – just the fact that we buy from them is bad enough. The line has been crossed. (...) If they had access to the premises and were able to look around during the installation, that raises all sorts of risks. We are already talking about intelligence risks. A separate investigation will be needed into how all this was done," Kasčiūnas is cited as saying by Siena.
Kasčiūnas said legislative changes are necessary to ensure that companies involved in low-value procurements are assessed more carefully in terms of national security.