Lithuanian MPs are considering new restrictions on Belarusian nationals residing in Lithuania. One proposal would not let them return home more than once a year.
The parliamentary Committee on National Security and Defence (NSGK) held a meeting on Wednesday to discuss national sanctions on Russian and Belarusian citizens that expire in May.
Intelligence officers from the State Security Department (VSD) that attended the meeting proposed that Belarusian citizens resident in Lithuania would be allowed to return to their home country only once a year, otherwise they would lose their residence permit.
The Vilnius-based office of Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya has criticised the amendments under discussion in the parliament, saying they would punishing for ordinary people.
Diverging opinions
Four conservative MPs are proposing to add a provision to the law on national sanctions that temporary residence permits issued to Russian and Belarusian citizens would be revoked if they travel to Russia or Belarus more than once in 12 months.
Audronius Ažubalis, one of the co-authors, says the measure would reduce the flows of people travelling between Lithuania and the two countries, something that intelligence officers claim raises the risks of them being recruited by foreign security agencies.
According to Ažubalis, temporary residence permit holders crossed the Lithuanian-Belarusian or Russian border 28,000 times last December. In January-March, the total number stood at 422,000.
The VSD has previously claimed that Belarusian intelligence services try to recruit travellers, raid their personal belongings and phones, which represents a threat to Lithuania’s national security.
“Our proposals reflect the real situation, and we have based them on the threat assessment of the VSD and the Second Department [military intelligence] over the last two years,” the conservative politician said.
Dovilė Šakalienė, the social democratic member of the NSGK, noted hat some professions, such as truck drivers, would be exempted from travel restrictions.
A VSD officer, however, argued that even one trip a year was too much.
“In our opinion, a person crossing the Lithuanian-Belarusian border even once poses a counter-intelligence threat,” he said at the NSGK meeting. Moreover, he suggested the one-trip-per-year restriction should apply to holders of temporary and permanent residence permits alike.
Representatives of the Economy Ministry and the Foreign Affairs Ministry have criticised the proposal.
Deputy Economy Minister Karolis Žemaitis argued that Belarusian investors are forced to return to their home country to renew their foreign passports.
Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Simonas Šatūnas, meanwhile, noted that such a provision would be impossible to enforce.
“What if they go via Latvia or Poland, how will we control it? I don’t understand how this rule will be applied,” he said.
On Wednesday, the NSGK did not come to an agreement about additional restrictions, but decided to reconvene on Friday.
Travel is a necessity, not a whim
Meanwhile, the Vilnius-based office of Belarusian opposition leader Tsikhanouskaya argues that restricting travel at the risk of losing one’s residence permit is an unjustified punishment for ordinary Belarusians.
Tsikhanouskaya’s office argues that Belarus’ authoritarian government and not ordinary Belarusians are to blame for the crimes for which Vilnius is sanctioning the country.
“Travelling back home is often not a whim, but a necessity – many have relatives and friends there who need help. In addition, travellers from Lithuania to Belarus bring the truth about Europe, which helps to counter the propaganda of the ‘Russian world’,” according to a press release issued on Tuesday evening.
Additional vetting
Lithuania introduced sanctions on Russian and Belarusian nationals – which include visa and residence permit restrictions, bans on acquiring property, additional checks on the border – last year. They are set to expire in May, but the government is looking to extend them for another year.
It proposes to ramp up the measures and screen all arriving Russians and Belarusians for “threats to public order, domestic security in Schengen member-states, public health or international relations”.
State Border Guard Service (VSAT) chief Rustamas Liubajevas says such checks are already being carried out.
“We have established certain risk profiles and if one or more indicators are detected during the initial check, a second-line check is carried out,” he said.
Ažubalis, the conservative MP, doubted that the checks proposed by the government would have a significant effect.
“A second-line check will do nothing to help, it is only there to show that something is being done,” he said.
New restrictions
On Wednesday, the NSGK endorsed some other proposals by Ažubalis and his fellow MPs.
The committee agreed to include into the law on national sanctions a provision that Lithuanian visa offices abroad would not accept Schengen visa applications from Russians and Belarusians.
It also endorsed a proposal to revoke residence permits for Russians and Belarusians if they are found to support “a recognised crime of aggression” or “publicly and systematically disseminate false information contrary to the public interest or the interests of the state”.
VSD officers pointed out, however, that it would require to monitor impossible volumes of online communication.
“The Department would have neither the physical nor the technical capacity to monitor 60,000 Belarusians and tens of thousands of Russian citizens, even if it were to double its forces,” said the intelligence officer who attended the meeting.
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