UPDATE 1-Lithuania charges three with defacing anti-Soviet monument

A Lithuanian prosecutor said on Wednesday he had charged three people with defacing a monument to an anti-Soviet resistance leader in January 2024, and that Russian intelligence was the main organiser behind the act.

Prosecutor Rimas Bradunas told a press conference two of the three charged are dual Estonian-Russian citizens, while one is a Russian citizen. When asked at the press conference about any involvement of Russia's GRU military intelligence agency in the act, Bradunas said: "That was the main organizer, without doubt, yes".

Two of the three detained were arrested in Estonia and handed over to Lithuania, he said.