Some Belarusian IT companies that have moved to Lithuania are considering exiting the country, a representative of the office of Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya says.
He told LNK News on Wednesday that this is due to Lithuanian politicians’ plans to reconsider restrictions on Belarusian citizens entering the country.
“We have heard from several Belarusian IT companies that they are thinking about moving out of Lithuania,” Valery Kavaleuski said. “The companies came here because they were assured that they would feel safe, that they would get asylum and now it seems that the authorities are taking decisions that deny the right to come and work in Lithuania.”
Lithuanian lawmakers say they will consider tightening restrictions on Belarusian citizens in September. If they are put on par with the existing sanctions for Russian citizens, introduced last spring, this will make it more difficult for Belarusians to enter Lithuania and acquire real estate.
According to data from Investuok Lietuvoje (Invest Lithuania), the country’s foreign investment promotion agency, some 5,200 Belarusian IT professionals are now living in Lithuania.
Earlier, Lithuanian Economy Minister Aušrinė Armonaitė said that while considering new restrictions, “the most important thing is not to drive away and frighten the people who are against the regime [of Alexander Lukashenko] and who have come to escape from it”.
Meanwhile, conservative MP Laurynas Kasčiūnas, chair of the parliamentary Committee on National Security and Defence, says talks of Belarusian companies threatening to leave Lithuania is “a form of blackmail”.
Newsletter
Every Friday morning.
