Фото: sumin.lrv.lt
Lithuania’s State Security Department will conduct an additional review of new Lithuanian Airports board member Oleksandras Laneckis after information emerged about his links to Russia and Belarus. The Lithuanian Transport Ministry told BNS.
The review was initiated by Transport Minister Juras Taminskas. The State Security Department is to assess whether information about Laneckis’ past activities could pose a threat to national security.
Opposition conservatives from the Homeland Union–Lithuanian Christian Democrats said Laneckis’ appointment could pose a threat to Lithuania’s national security because his company Friendly Avia Support previously advised Belarusian state-owned enterprises on aviation issues. In addition, from 2017 to 2023, he served as sales director at aircraft maintenance company Linetech Aircraft Maintenance, which provided services in Russia and other CIS countries. Laneckis also gave interviews to pro-Russian media and published materials there on ways to circumvent Western sanctions, the Homeland Union–Lithuanian Christian Democrats said.
LRT also reported that Laneckis previously referred to the Russian-Ukrainian war as a “special military operation” — the Kremlin’s official term for the full-scale invasion. According to available information, he also described the self-proclaimed “Luhansk People’s Republic” as a territory with an undetermined legal status.
It was also reported that in May 2021, Laneckis gave a neutral assessment of Belarus’s forced landing of a Ryanair flight from Athens to Vilnius.
Taminskas said that checks of candidates had been conducted before the board appointments and that no negative findings had been made at the time. He said he was unaware of the allegations against Laneckis .
“We will act in accordance with the results of the review. If the findings are negative, we will take a principled position, and such a person will not be able to hold this position,” the minister told reporters.
The additional assessment is expected to be completed in the coming days. Its results will determine whether Laneckis can continue serving on the Lithuanian Airports board.
Transport Minister Juras Taminskas asked the State Security Department to urgently assess the recently emerged information about Laneckis and determine whether it poses a threat to national security.
Taminskas said he had not been aware of the allegations against Laneckis. Asked whether he considered himself personally responsible for vetting members of the board of directors, the minister said he did not follow Russian media or analyze companies associated with them.
Laneckis himself rejected the allegations and said his previous statements had been taken out of context.
“I am very well known in the Lithuanian business market, and people know what I do, whom I help and which side I support,” he said on LRT RADIO on Wednesday. “I am an open person, I have done nothing wrong, I have never done anything wrong.”
He said he had never acted against Lithuania’s interests and had never criticized aid to Ukraine.
Laneckis also said on Facebook that he had given comments only to Belarusian and Russian opposition media. According to him, Friendly Avia Support ended its cooperation with Belarusian partners in spring 2020, while his ties with Russia and Polish company Linetech’s cooperation with Russian entities ended on the first day of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Laneckis previously served as vice president of aviation company Avia Solutions Group for the Russian and CIS markets. On the Lithuanian Airports board, he is responsible for strategic planning and aviation sector issues.