US embassy cable - 05VILNIUS519

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 VILNIUS 000519 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EUR/NB, S/CT, DS/IP/EUR, AND DS/ITA/EUR 
 
TALLINN FOR FBI 
 
MOSCOW FOR DAO, RSO, AND FBI 
 
DIA PASS TO DHO-2 AND JITF-CT 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/16/2015 
TAGS: HT32, HT29, HT12 
SUBJECT: Weapons Discovered Near Lithuanian Refugee 
Reception Center Housing Chechens 
 
Ref:  Vilnius 1106 
 
1. (U) Classified By RSO Brent A. Barker. Reason 1.5 
(D). 
 
2. (S) Summary.  The Lithuanian Police recently 
disclosed to us that they discovered a significant 
cache of weapons last June near a Refugee Center 
outside of Kaunas.  The weapons included Russian Flame 
Rocket Launchers, assault rifles, and explosives.  The 
Police believe the weapons belonged to Chechens 
residing at the Refugee Reception Center.  End summary. 
 
3. (C) On April 22, the Deputy Director of the 
Forensics Lab and the Head of the International Office 
of the Lithuanian Police requested technical assistance 
from RSO regarding a weapons cache discovered last 
year.  Lithuanian children playing last June in the 
forest discovered several items buried approximately 
200 meters from the Rukla Refugee Reception Center, a 
350-person facility near the central Lithuanian city of 
Kaunas.  Although buried in the ground, the items had 
been partially uncovered by weather.  The children dug, 
further uncovering the cache.  When they realized there 
were weapons among the buried items, they told their 
parents.  The parents reported the discovery to the 
local Police. 
 
4. (C) The following items were discovered: 
 
Russian RPO-A Shmel 93mm Recoilless Infantry Flame 
Thrower / Launcher (Quantity 2) 
 
AK-47 Assault Rifles (Quantity 2) 
 
Ammunition and Magazines for AK-47 
 
Mobile Phone modified to act as an IED triggering 
device 
 
Remote Control IED triggering device 
 
TNT 400 grams (Quantity 1 Block).  The Block had 
Russian Markings 
 
TNT 200 grams each (Quantity 3 Block) wrapped together 
with RDX sheet between each Block. 
 
Plastic Explosives 200 grams each (Quantity 3 Block). 
The covers form the explosives had been removed. 
 
RSO has digital photos of the flame launchers and 
triggering devices. 
 
5. (C) The Police suspect that the items discovered 
belonged to Chechens.  While they admit that they 
cannot confirm this, they base their suspicion on the 
fact that Chechens are regularly housed at the Rukla 
Refugee Reception Center and there were Chechens there 
at the time the weapons were discovered.  In addition, 
the Police say that Lithuanian organized crime has 
never used weapons such as Flame Launchers, and they 
see no practical reason that they would begin to use 
them.  The Police took fingerprint and DNA samples from 
the recovered items but found no matches. 
 
6. (C) Upon X-Raying the two Flame Launchers, the 
Police found that the design did not match the 
technical information that they had.  They asked for 
RSO assistance to determine the best way to dispose of 
the Flame Launchers (both of which had had their data 
plates removed). 
 
7. (S) The Defense Attach?s Office expressed an 
interest in taking possession of the Flame Launchers 
for examination by technical experts.  The Police have 
agreed to turn over the two Flame Launchers to us.  The 
DAO is making arrangements to take possession of the 
weapons and forward them to the appropriate experts. 
 
8. (S) The Police admit that they have no firm evidence 
of where the items came from or what their final 
destination was.  The Police said that they have not 
contacted Russian authorities to inform them of the 
discovery or request technical information. 
 
9. (S) The RAO contacted the State Security Department 
(Lithuania's Intelligence Service, known by its 
Lithuanian acronym VSD) about this discovery.  VSD 
officials stated that an informant had reported one 
anti-tank 81mm rocket in the same area.  RSO spoke 
again to the Police investigators to confirm the 
information about how the items in their possession 
were discovered.  The follow-up information from the 
Police confirms that the VSD information referred to 
another, separate incident. 
 
10.(S) Comment.  This is a disturbing development, as 
it provides the first indication we are aware of that 
Lithuania may be serving as a weapons transit route. 
Previous information indicated that Chechens residing 
in Lithuania were involved in petty crime but otherwise 
were not a threat, although the basing of a pro-Chechen 
website in Lithuania has been an intermittent source of 
tension between Russia and the GOL (reftel).  The 
Police are  concerned about the arms discovery, but 
downplay the possibility of a terrorist threat in 
Lithuania from Chechens or anyone else.  We are less 
serene, and will work with the police and other GOL 
security officials to take this discovery seriously. 
The information that our investigators develop when 
they examine the weapons will give us an opportunity to 
reinvigorate the Lithuanian effort. 
 
MULL