Right-wing extremists seek to radicalize teenagers – Lithuanian intelligence

VILNIUS – Right-wing extremists are seeking to radicalize teenagers and might try to carry out a terror attack, Lithuania's State Security Department states in its traditional annual national threat assessment produced in cooperation with the country's military intelligence, the Second Investigation Department under the Ministry of National Defense, and published on Friday.

"The most active accelerationism supporters are aiming to radicalize teenagers and encourage the already radicalized individuals to switch from online discussions to real life actions," the document reads.

"(…) it is possible that in the near term there might be attempts to commit a terrorist attack against ethnic or religious minorities, refugees, human rights defenders or activists," it states.

According to Lithuania's intelligence, there are several dozen people in Lithuania, spreading right-wing extremist accelerationism ideology in Lithuania’s digital communication platforms. Some of them began to spread their ideological views in public places and during protest action, for instance, by putting stickers and distributing flyers.

Right-wing extremists also tried to take advantage of the migration crisis. However, several of their initiatives to conduct border patrols were interrupted at the initial stages. The organizers intended to locate individuals who had crossed the border and use violence against them.

LOW RISK OF ISLAMIST TERRORISM

Several dozen foreigners tried to enter Lithuanian from Belarus in the illegal migration flow, suspected of having links with terrorist or paramilitary organizations.

The SSD initiated the deportation of eight such people from Lithuania last year, according to the intelligence report.

However, there's no evidence of attempts by people to use the illegal migration route to come to Lithuanian or other European states to carry out terror attacks.

The intelligence report states that "the probability of a terrorist attack in Lithuania is low".