Lithuania has added 15 Russian law enforcement officers responsible for the persecution of Russian opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza to its list of undesirable persons, the Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday.
The move comes in response to the Interior Minister’s proposal and a letter sent by 40 MEPs on May 24 to EU foreign ministers, proposing to add Kara-Murza’s persecutors to the list of undesirable persons.
“Russia under the Kremlin regime remains a threat, and as long as this regime is in power, no one in Europe and the world can feel safe. It is probably quite clear to everyone that Putin has no intention of abiding by any of the rules of the civilised world. Court rulings in Putin’s Russia make it clear that those who dare to fight for democracy are seen there as traitors. The persecutors of Kara-Murza must face international sanctions and be put on the list of undesirable persons,” Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said on Tuesday.
Interior Minister Agnė Bilotaitė says this sends a message that those who assist the regime “are not welcome in our country”.
“This cannot be tolerated in any democratic country,” she stressed.
Under the law, the 15 Russian individuals will be subject to five-year travel bans.
In mid-April, a Moscow court sentenced Kara-Murza, a Kremlin critic, to 25 years in prison. He is one of Russia’s prominent opposition politicians, a human rights activist and a close associate of opposition figure Boris Nemtsov, a long-standing critic of the Russian government, who was assassinated in 2015.
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