Lithuania may revise its existing law on national sanctions and introduce stricter entry restrictions for Belarusian citizens, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda says.
The president insists that more restrictions will be necessary if mercenaries of Russia’s private military group Wagner start setting up in Belarus.
“I think we will all come to that conclusion. I have heard that the foreign minister also admits such a risk exists, so I think we will all come to that conclusion together and we’ll go back to the decisions we made and try to reassess them in the light of new circumstances,” the president said in an interview with BNS on Tuesday.
President Nausėda vetoed the law adopted by the parliament, Seimas, in April because it envisaged different sanctions for Belarusian and Russian citizens, but his veto was eventually rejected.
“Naturally, I have nothing against the Belarusians as a nation, but Belarusian citizenship can be obtained simply by acquiring a Belarusian passport, and we have also seen cases where well-known people have, for example, not only a Russian passport, but also a Belarusian passport,” Nausėda said.
“People of unclear origin with Belarusian passports and with unclear intentions can apply for entry into Lithuania. I’m not saying it has to happen right here, tomorrow or something like that, but could anyone [...] deny that such a possibility exists? Given that this is a great lever in the hands of an unfriendly regime, why would the Wagner group not use such a lever?” the president reasoned.
Under the existing Law on Imposing Restrictive Measures Regarding the Military Aggression Against Ukraine, Russians and Belarusians are restricted from obtaining Lithuanian visas, electronic resident status, and are banned from importing Ukrainian hryvnias. The measures are in place from May 2 until May 3, 2024.
Moreover, Russian citizens are subject to additional restrictions regarding their entry to Lithuania and purchase of real estate. Lithuania also stopped accepting their applications for residence permit. These restrictions do not apply to Belarusians.
The Lithuanian president had proposed subjecting Russian and Belarusian citizens to the same restrictions, arguing that Belarus, just like Russia, was involved in military aggression against Ukraine and posed an even greater threat to Lithuania’s national security.
For her part, Vilnius-based Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya called for lighter restrictions for Belarusians.
Data from Lithuania’s Migration Department shows that almost 49,000 Belarusian citizens lived in Lithuania at the beginning of this year. Many of them fled Belarus to avoid persecution by the regime of Alexander Lukashenko regime after the 2020 mass demonstrations demanding free and fair elections.
‘Not convinced’
“I am not convinced by the argument that President Nausėda seems to be using, that we should change or revise the law because of the Wagner group’s presence in Belarus,” Parliament Speaker Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen commented on Nausėda’s proposal.
“Russian citizens from the Wagner terrorist group will not become Belarusian citizens just because they move to Belarus, so the same requirements that have been in place until now will continue to apply to them,” she told LRT RADIO on Wednesday.
The State Border Guard Service and other authorities responsible for security should be consulted on whether they “see a problem and a need to tighten up the law further and to revise it, and whether everything is under control”, according to the speaker.
“At the moment, I don’t see the need to revise it,” she said.
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