Belarus’ high-tech co in Vilnius attempted to transfer sanctioned funds from Russia

Izovac Photonics, a Belarusian high-tech company that settled down in Lithuania six months ago with the assistance of Invest Lithuania, the government's foreign investment promotion agency, attempted to transfer from Russia 1.2 million euros received from an institute of Rostec after the start of the war in Ukraine disregarding the sanctions imposed against the Russian state-owned concern developing military equipment.

Lithuania's Financial Crime Investigation Service (FCIS) had seized the funds of the Belarusian company due to the sanctions against Rostec and its CEO Sergey Chemezov, the public broadcaster LRT reported.

Izovac Photonics director Vitali Khomich, a Belarusian national, said that the company had been mulling expansion in the European Union even before the rigged Belarusian presidential elections of August 2020.

“After long discussions about the expansion of the group and the establishment of a company in EU, we considered several jurisdictions and eventually chose Lithuania,” he added.

Lithuania’s Ministry of Economy and Innovation invited skilled Belarusian specialists and businesses to move to Lithuania in the wake of mass protests against the re-election of Alexander Lukashenko, Belarusian authoritarian leader.

According to the data from Invest Lithuania, 44 companies have moved to Lithuania from Belarus since then.