Salmanov denies terrorism charges, says he is a pacifist

Russian citizen Eldar Salmanov denied terrorism charges and told a Vilnius Regional Court hearing that he was a pacifist who loved peace, LRT reported Thursday.

Salmanov was the first defendant questioned as the court continued hearing the case involving incendiary parcels sent abroad. “I do not admit guilt,” he said.

Salmanov, who lives in Estonia, said Andrei Baburov, a former submarine captain living in Russia whose search has been announced by Lithuania, had asked him to send a parcel to Riga. A mutual acquaintance, Viacheslav Aliokhin, brought massage devices and massage cushions to Salmanov’s home. Incendiary devices were later found concealed inside them.

Salmanov sent the parcel. When prosecutor Šarūnas Astrauskas asked whether he agreed that Russia had attacked Ukraine and that a war was taking place, Salmanov did not answer directly.

“I am a pacifist. I love peace,” he replied.

The court then questioned Vadym Borsuk, the nephew of another defendant, Vasilij Kovač. Borsuk said his uncle took him along when transporting the incendiary devices concealed in massage cushions from Latvia to Vilnius.

According to Borsuk, they met an unidentified person at an agreed location in Vilnius. His uncle showed the person that the parcel was in the vehicle’s trunk, after which the person took it and they returned. Borsuk said he travelled to Vilnius with his uncle twice to deliver two parcels.

The case concerns parcels containing incendiary devices that were sent abroad through DHL and DPD. Charges have been brought against Lithuanian citizen Aleksandras Šuranovas, Ukrainian citizens Borsuk and Kovač, dual Russian and Lithuanian citizen Daniil Jencius, and Russian citizen Salmanov. They are accused of committing a terrorist act and participating in an organised terrorist group whose aim was to commit terrorist crimes.

In July 2024, four parcels were sent from Lithuania to the United Kingdom and Poland. Two parcels transported by air reached a sorting centre in Germany, where they were assigned for onward delivery. One caught fire at Leipzig Airport shortly before being loaded onto a plane, while the second ignited in a warehouse in the United Kingdom.

The parcel sent to Poland caught fire inside the truck transporting it. A fourth parcel, carried by DPD road freight, did not ignite because of a malfunction in the device and was intercepted by officials. Examination identified the mechanism of the device and assessed the danger it posed.

According to the charges, the fire in the United Kingdom caused almost 400,000 euros in damage, while the damage in Germany amounted to 126,000 euros and in Poland to nearly 62,000 euros.

Officials say the defendants acted as operatives and intermediaries, while the organisers were in Russia and are currently out of reach. Investigators established that the crimes were organised by Russia’s Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, known as the GRU.

The indictment says Šuranovas used false identity details when sending the parcels from Lithuania. The case was separated from another investigation that has identified at least 16 citizens of various countries who organised, planned or assisted in terrorist crimes in different countries.

Law enforcement agencies from Lithuania, Poland, the Netherlands, Germany and the United Kingdom, working through a joint investigation team coordinated by Eurojust, stopped attacks planned in Europe using self-igniting parcels and identified people who had planned and carried out the crimes.