UPDATE 1-Lithuania pardons Russians spies, may pave way for swap with Russia and Norway

Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda on Friday pardoned two Russian citizens sentenced for spying in a move that could pave the way for a three-way spy swap between Russia, Norway, and Lithuania. Russia also said on Friday it would review in the near future a pardon request submitted by Norwegian Frode Berg, jailed for spying, the RIA news agency reported.

Lithuanian news agency BNS reported last month that Moscow, Oslo, and Vilnius were discussing exchanging two Russians jailed in Lithuania, two Lithuanians sentenced for spying in Russia, and Berg. Authorities in the three countries have either declined to comment on or have denied the BNS report.

The Lithuanian president pardoned Nikolai Filipchenko, who was sentenced in 2017 to 10 years for spying, giving fraudulent information to obtain a document, forging and using personal identification and illegally crossing a state border, according to the signed pardon published on the presidency's website. The president also pardoned Sergei Moisejenko, sentenced in 2017 to 10-1/2 years for spying and for illegal possession of weapons, the document showed.

Both men were accused of recruiting spies in Lithuania, according to local media reports. Filipchenko targeted the Lithuanian president's security staff with the aim of bugging the presidency's office and home, and Moisejenko was looking for information about Lithuanian and NATO armed forces, according to the reports. Lithuania is a NATO member.

The president signed legislation earlier this week that allows him to pardon a person convicted of a crime in Lithuania in exchange for a Lithuanian citizen prosecuted abroad who "acted in the interests of Lithuania". Berg, a retired guard on the Norwegian-Russian border, has been at the centre of a local campaign to free him. In his hometown of Kirkenes in the Arctic, a banner hangs in the center of the town that says "Help Frode home!"