More than half of people in Lithuania oppose the move to revoke the country’s citizenship given to a Russian ice skater, Margarita Drobiazko, according to a poll conducted earlier this month.
The survey commissioned by LRT showed that 51 percent of the respondents opposed the decision to revoke Drobiazko’s citizenship, while 35 percent backed the move. Meanwhile, 14 percent of respondents did not have an opinion or did not want to answer the question.
Drobiazko sparked an outcry in the country after she participated in an ice show with her Lithuanian husband, Povilas Vanages, in Sochi on August 9 last year. Later, the duo continued to attend events organised by Tatyana Navka, wife of the Kremlin’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov. Both were sanctioned by Washington for their close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Drobiazko was granted Lithuanian citizenship by exception 30 years ago for her sporting achievements. During her career, she has won bronze medals together with Vanagas at the world and European ice skating championships and represented Lithuania in five Olympic games. They now reside in Russia.
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"Stripping Drobiazko of her citizenship is an act of political populism," said Dainius Žalimas, former president of Lithuania’s Constitutional Court and dean of the law faculty at the Vytautas Magnus University.
"Our state is very weak if it decides to fight imaginary threats to national security by adopting a special law on her, applying it retrospectively, and stripping her of citizenship," he told LRT.lt.
Although he claimed that Drobiazko’s behaviour was “immoral”, Žalimas said that “not every immoral behaviour leads to deprivation of citizenship”.
He added that Lithuania had opted for the same path as the Minsk regime.
“I have said all along that this is the Lukashenko way. [Belarus’ authoritarian leader Alexander] Lukashenko has imposed the same citizenship law,” said Žalimas.
Meanwhile, MP Dalia Asanavičiūtė, who helped draft the legal amendments that paved the way for Drobiazko to lose her citizenship, defended the move.
“I think that such repeated actions by Drobiazko show her [pro-Kremlin] position. Therefore, I support this final decision. I believe that a citizen of Lithuania, whether by birth or by exception, must be equally loyal to the state. Responsibility must also be the same,” she told LRT.
Previously, Drobiazko issued a public statement, denying she was playing a part in pro-Russian propaganda.
“Together with my husband, my ice-skating partner and selfless Lithuanian patriot Povilas, we carry the light of culture and goodness as much as we can," she said.
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