Lithuania’s Interior Minister Agnė Bilotaitė has instructed the State Border Guard Service (VSAT) to reinforce the screening of persons arriving from Belarus and Russia’s Kaliningrad region.
Border officials will check more closely the documents and visas of persons transiting through the territory of Lithuania, the Interior Ministry said on Thursday.
According to Bilotaitė, the state border with Russia and Belarus could be closed entirely if the threat level in the region increases.
The ministry said that some 1,200 Belarusian and 1,300 Russian citizens have been denied entry to Lithuania since January 1.
In response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Poland tightened border controls for Russian citizens trying to enter the EU in September.
Since then, Lithuania has only allowed Russian diplomats, dissidents, employees of transport companies, family members of EU citizens, as well as people with residence permits or long-stay national visas from Schengen countries to enter the country. During the checks, VSAT officers also have to make sure that travellers from Russia do not pose a threat to Lithuania’s national security, public order, public policy, internal security, public health, or international relations.
The Interior Ministry does not specify the exact reasons for its latest decision but concern about the regional security situation has increased in recent days after Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Russian private military company Wagner, moved to Belarus.
The possible presence of Wagner units in Belarus is also causing concern as Vilnius will host a NATO summit in July.
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