If Lithuanian citizenship is acquired to circumvent international sanctions, it can be stripped by changing the country’s laws, Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė said on Thursday after it emerged that two children of Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich have Lithuanian passports.
“It certainly doesn’t look good for our country when people close to the regime have some legal documents of residence and can use these documents to circumvent international sanctions. I really think that this issue needs to be resolved, and if amendments are needed, they will be initiated,” Šimonytė told LRT RADIO on Thursday.
“Usually, in such cases, people have more than one citizenship, even on the grounds of descent, and we could talk about the grounds for stripping them of citizenship in the Seimas as well, but, of course, that would require amendments to the law,” she added.
Many people close to the Kremlin obtained residence permits in the EU countries before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which is a problem, according to the prime minister.
On Wednesday, Lithuania’s Migration Department confirmed that two of Abromovich’s children have Lithuanian citizenship, but he is not a Lithuanian citizen.
Siena, a Lithuanian investigative journalism centre, reported on Wednesday that Abramovic’s children Anna and Arkady Abramovich, who may have helped their father circumvent international sanctions, have Lithuanian passports.
On Thursday, Interior Minister Agnė Bilotaitė also set up a commission to look into the circumstances under which Abramovich’s children acquired Lithuanian citizenship.
The ministry also instructed the Migration Department to review the list of persons and entities subject to EU sanctions and check whether any family members of the sanctioned persons hold Lithuanian passports.
“The granting of citizenship cannot be a secret, and a Lithuanian passport cannot be a cover for circumventing sanctions or other abuses,” Bilotaitė was quoted as saying in a press release. “In this geopolitically complex period, the protection of personal data cannot take precedence over national security interests.”
Bilotaitė also said that legislation is being drafted to allow stripping people of Lithuanian citizenship acquired by descent if they are deemed a threat to national security.
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