Lithuania deports its first "persona non grata"

On Oct. 4, Lithuania's Immigration Department deported Russian citizen Andrey Kubachiov and his Lithuanian visa was canceled.

Lithuania's State Security Department accused him of trying to unlawfully collect commercial information about Lithuanian energy companies and their privatization.

But the official reason for proclaiming Kubachiov persona non grata was his crossings of Lithuania's border with two different passports under two different names.

"Officially, Kubachiov was not expelled for espionage. He used to come to Lithuania with a Russian passport under the name of Andrey Kubachiov and left with a Dutch passport under the name of Andrev Homeiliov. This was the reason for deporting him. But he was also taking interest in energy companies, which are in the process of privatization," Mecys Laurinkus, head of the State Security Department, told Lithuanian TV.

"Usually, we just have a talk with such persons. But this is the first case where such a person has been barred from returning to Lithuania.

We need to improve our laws. There is no punishment for disclosure of commercial secrets in our laws as yet."

The State Security Department stated in a press release that the department also issued official warnings to several Lithuanian civil servants regarding unjustifiable actions relating to commercial secrets of state-run companies. According to the press release, "relevant foreign services" have been notified about the deportation of Kubachiov.

The report does not indicate specific companies from which the Russian citizen was collecting secret data. But the daily Lietuvos Rytas wrote that Kubachiov was interested in the natural gas company Lietuvos Dujos, which is currently under privatization.

According to the daily, a proposal by Kubachiov to sell gas to Lietuvos Dujos at a cheaper price than that usually charged by Gazprom even reached the desk of Prime Minister Algirdas Brazauskas.

Kubachiov, who heads a company registered in Ireland called Three Marine Brokerage and the U.S.-registered WIC company had signed these propositions, but Brazauskas suddenly lost his interest, according to the daily.

Kubachiov was visiting Lithuania with senior officials from Russia's Slavneft and Yukos oil companies at the time of his expulsion.