A Politician Who Never Ran in Elections, Repeatedly Convicted. What is Known About the Lithuanian from BT Propaganda Broadcasts

Antanas Kandrotas, participant in BT propaganda programs. Screenshot from a video recording of Belarus-4 TV channel.

A Politician Who Never Participated in Elections

Antanas Kandrotas was born in Kaunas on December 28, 1980. He is also known by the nickname Celofanas (Cellophane), and in Lithuanian media, he appears as Kandrotas-Celofanas.

In 2020, he intended to run for parliament with the party "Union of Fighters for Lithuania," but the party did not pay the fee or collect signatures, and therefore it was not registered to participate in the elections.

This is a small far-right party, led by the scandalous Kaunas mayor Vytautas Šustauskas (who died in 2023), who had declared his intention to seek political asylum in Belarus — he was detained several times for insulting police officers. He held pro-Russian views, opposed Lithuania's integration into the European Union and NATO, and was once elected to parliament. His fame came from the so-called "Ball of Beggars," which he organized in 1999 for the people in front of Vilnius City Hall, where the country's top officials were then holding a charity "Vienna Ball."

In 2024, Antanas Kandrotas declared his intention to participate in the presidential elections representing the party he leads, "We Are Lithuania" ("Mes Lietuva"), but he was not registered because he did not submit all the necessary documents.

Repeatedly Convicted for Financial Fraud and More

In 2013, the Vilnius Regional Court first convicted Kandrotas for financial fraud. He was sentenced to one year and 7 months in prison. In 2007, he created a shell company that acquired assets on credit and then disappeared.

He was sentenced for the second time to the same term in 2017 — he failed to pay 700,000 euros in taxes for the activities of a shell company involved in the purchase and sale of gasoline.

Павялічыць

The Facebook page Celofanas LIVE, run by Antanas Kandrotas.

In November 2023, he was sentenced to four years in prison for financial fraud, but was released early in 2025.

In September 2025, Antanas Kandrotas was sentenced to 4 years in prison for participating in riots near the Lithuanian parliament. The verdict has not yet entered into legal force, as Kandrotas has appealed it, and the process is not yet complete.

This February, the court considered a case against him for insulting a former MP and inciting hatred based on sexual orientation. The prosecution requested the court to sentence him to one year in prison.

Participant in Anti-Globalist Protests

Kandrotas participated in protests against COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. During these protests, he provoked clashes with the police, and the court restricted his ability to participate in further protests. In court sessions, he taped his mouth shut as a sign of protest against wearing masks.

The "political expert" of propaganda in Belarus was one of the organizers of the "Grand March in Defense of the Family" in May 2021 against the government's proposed civil partnership bill.

He participated in anti-Ukrainian rallies after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Ties with Belarus

In 2021, he was seen driving a car with red license plates — such plates are used by diplomatic missions in Lithuania. According to Lithuanian media, the car might have belonged to the Belarusian Embassy in Lithuania. However, Antanas Kandrotas denied this, claiming the car belonged to the Order of Malta, of which he allegedly was a member. The Order of Malta rejected this claim and officially distanced itself from Kandrotas.

On his Facebook page Celofanas LIVE, Antanas Kandrotas published posts against Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya.

In January 2022, Antanas Kandrotas visited Belarus along with other members of the anti-European "Dawn of Justice" party (led by Algirdas Paleckis, convicted of espionage for Russia) and participated in a meeting with Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei. They called themselves representatives of "Lithuanian civil society" and, during the meetings, expressed outrage over the Lithuanian government's policy towards Belarus following the forced landing of a Ryanair plane with Raman Pratasevich on board, the 2020 presidential elections, and the migrant crisis that the Belarusian authorities initiated in 2021 against its European neighbors.

In August 2025, Kandrotas actively participated in a rally against Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya's presence in Lithuania, organized by far-right MP Vytautas Sinica.

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