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Description
Operation Matryoshka is a short series of investigative stories that aims at revealing assets owned by members of Russia‘s elite, affiliated with sanctioned individuals, and the connections of these people with the Lithuanian political elite. The project also aims to identify business structures that facilitate individuals with dubious reputation the entry into EU on business grounds and set up legal entities for individuals that are suspected of bein involved in pro-Kremlin activities in Lithuania. The project seeks to disclose information of value to both the general public and the law enforcement and initiate decisions on the national level, in order to investigate possible cases of financial fraud and increase the level of transparency and improve the access to information in Lithuania, both for journalists and for the civil society.
Summary of project results
The project was investigating politicians and organisations affiliated with people and entities close to the Russian regime. The project‘s aim was to inform the society about these connections and identify possible cases of tax evasion, as well as conduct some preventive work, in order to get the Lithuanian audience somewhat more resilient, when it comes to disinformation and manipulations, undertaken to weaken the country‘s overall agenda in support of Ukraine. The work was especially important in the curent context, since disinformation and other attempts to disturb the political field are a highly relevant topic in the light of the Russian invasion in Ukraine.
The target group consisted of general public, decision maker and government bodies, responsible for taxation and national security.
While implementing the project, two investigative stories were published with an overall reach of more than 100,000 people (including direct reach and re-publishing of the two stories in other media outlets). The investigative stories were conducted in an attempt to raise public awareness and initiate action on the part of government bodies
Both socio-political and institutional reactions were initiated. The State Tax Inspectorate responded to both stories by initiating relevant measures. In case of the first story, the tax office launched an official tax probe into a company beneficially owned by a close affiliate of a recently sanctioned Russian oligarch; the probe is still ongoing. In the case of the second story, the tax office immediately identified a case of tax evasion and took steps to ensure the state budget receives the taxes that were previously dodged. Overall, both stories increased the public awareness in issues like risks connected to Russian influence, lack of transparency in the real estate sector, methods of disinformation etc. In particular, the second investigation identified a youth organisation, officially established to defend the rights of students, being affiliated with openly pro-Kremlin actors deemed to be a threat to Lithuania‘s national security. Both stories also contributed to increasing the general public‘s resilience towards manipulations and other means of disinformation.
E
Even without the direct impact achieved thanks to the measures taken by the tax office, the two investigative stories have reached their primary goal of raising awareness of risks connected to Russian influence in the Baltic region. The first story that focused on the political aspect identified high-ranking politicians affiliated with the inner circle of a recently-sanctioned Russian oligarch and pinpointed the deficiencies in transparency and AML procedures, when it comes to the real estate sector and company formation activities. The second story identified the connections among seemingly unrelated organisations and their common goal to manipulate the public opinion and thereby affect decision making across the country. The stories also identified two likely cases of tax evasion, one of which was immediately confirmed and relevant action was taken, for the state to receive the taxes that were previously dodged.