The Russian citizen was in hiding for 15 years. In the background, the collapse of a large bank
As reported by the General Prosecutor's Office in Vilnius, last Friday around 10 p.m. the man was transported by air from Franceand then handed over to the officers of the convoy unit, who placed him in the Vilnius detention center.
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The end of the high-profile extradition procedure was made possible thanks to the decision of the French Court of Cassation on May 13, which finally dismissed the complaint of the businessman's defenders. Thus, the earlier decision of the Court of Appeal in Rennes of April 3 came into force, allowing the banker to be extradited to the Lithuanian side on the basis of a European arrest warrant.
Wanted for years, detained in France
Vladimir Antonov, who holds Russian citizenship, has successfully evaded Lithuanian law enforcement agencies since 2011. His escape across Europe was put to an end only by the action of the French services in December last year, when he was detained in Baden.
Due to the fact that the defendants had been hiding abroad for years, the Lithuanian justice system decided to conduct the trial in absentia. In November 2024, the Vilnius District Court found Antonov and his business partner, Raimondas Baranauskas, guilty of all charges against them. Both were sentenced to more than 10 years of absolute imprisonment, and the prosecutor's office secured assets worth EUR 105 million for the state treasury.
However, this judgment is not final. The defendants' lawyers filed appeals, and the Lithuanian Court of Appeal is scheduled to hear the case on June 29. Baranauskas' lawyer is demanding that the verdict be overturned, and Antonov himself is fighting for complete acquittal.
Serious allegations and misappropriation of property
The scale of abuses committed by the heads of the Snoras bank, nationalized in November 2011, is enormous. The court of first instance found Vladimir Antonov guilty of committing as many as eight serious economic crimes.
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The businessmen were sentenced, among others, for misappropriation of Snoras' assets worth more than EUR 509 million, squandering of great assets, causing criminal bankruptcy and money laundering.
The list of proven crimes also includes: falsifying bank accounting records, abusing an official position in order to obtain financial benefits, as well as falsifying securities recordsthat were kept in foreign financial institutions.
While Antonov will now await the appeal verdict in a Lithuanian cell, the fate of his accomplice remains unknown. The Russian side has already officially informed Vilnius that Raimondas Baranauskas was granted refugee status in the territory of the Russian Federation, which makes his extradition practically impossible.
