Lithuania warns Russia could be planning targeted attacks on critical infrastructure

Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda has warned that Russia may be planning attacks on critical infrastructure, and security around energy and transport sites will be tightened as a precaution. Speaking to the BNS news agency, Nausėda confirmed growing concerns, previously reported by The Guardian, that Russia could escalate against one of the Baltic states or Poland.

The president said that Lithuanian intelligence services picked up “signals” of a potential provocation, but they do not identify a specific place or time because that is impossible to determine. He stated: “I cannot deny that we have such information and that it concerns kinetic operations – not on a large scale, but targeted kinetic operations that are very likely to be directed against critical infrastructure.”

Nausėda emphasized that anything that could stop these facilities from functioning is important because they matter not only in themselves but also because they ensure the functioning of the entire system, particularly synchronization with the continental European electricity grid. His comments are the latest in a series of warnings from Central and Eastern Europe amid fears of a Russian escalation. Previously, Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski issued similar warnings.