Lithuania President pardons two Russian spies paving way for spy swap

Lithuania President Gitanas Nauseda granted pardons to two Russian citizens who were initially arrested on the charges of spying, in a move that could lead to swapping of spies between Norway, Russia, and Lithuania. According to reports, all the three countries were holding talks about swapping two Russians imprisoned in Lithuania and in exchange for two Lithuanians jailed in Russia and Berg.

A three-way barter between Lithuania, Russia, Norway

Gibas Nauseda granted pardon to Nikolai Filipchenko, who was awarded a jail term of 10 years in 2017 based on the charges of using personal identification and illegally crossing a state border, forging, giving fraudulent information to obtain a document and spying in the year. The Lithuanian President also granted pardon to Sergei Moisejenko, who was also sentenced to a jail term of 10 years in 2017 based on the allegations of illegal possession of weapons.

According to reports, both of the Russian men were charged for recruiting spies in Lithuania as Flilipchenko mainly targeted the President's security detail with the main aim of bugging the President's office and official residence whereas Sergei Moisejenko was reportedly looking for information about Lithuanian and NATO armed forces as Lithuania is a NATO(North Atlantic Treaty Organization) member.

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The convicts 'involved' in the swapping

The other people involved in the swapping is Norweigian Frode Berg, a retired border guard who confessed about acting as a messenger for the Norwegian intelligence but denied the charges of spying.

A former Naval officer by the name of Yevgeny Mataitis, a dual citizen of Russia and Lithuania, who worked in the Russain exclave of Kaliningrad. Mataitis was awarded a jail term of 13 years for selling secrets to Lithuania and Aristadis Tamosaitis who was jailed for 12 years after he was detained in Russia on the charges of taking secrets from a Russian citizen.

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Nauseda recently signed legislation that will give him the permission of granting a pardon to a person who has been convicted of committing a crime in Lithuania in exchange for a Lithuanian citizen charged for a crime on foreign lands who acted in the interests of his country.

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(With inputs from agencies)