Lithuania mulls stripping dual nationals of citizenship for backing aggressors

In light of the geopolitical situation and emerging new threats, the Interior Ministry is proposing to strip all dual citizens of their Lithuanian citizenship if they support aggressors and pose a threat to national security.

The ministry has drafted the respective amendments to the Law on Citizenship.

“Persons engaged in anti-state activities and supporting aggressor countries cannot be citizens of the Republic of Lithuania,” Interior Minister Agnė Bilotaitė, the initiator of the amendments, said in a press release on Wednesday. “These amendments provide the state with the tools to protect national security interests.”

According to the ministry, the proposed amendments restrict the possibilities for persons deemed as posing a threat to national security to acquire or restore Lithuanian citizenship, and also expand the grounds for citizenship revocation.

The ministry proposes to strip dual citizenship holders of Lithuanian citizenship if they pose a threat to the security of the Lithuanian state, publicly support a foreign state that threatens the security interests of Lithuania and other EU member states and their allies, or support or participate in a foreign state’s actions that violate international legal principles and norms.

Under these circumstances, citizenship would be revoked irrespective of the grounds on which it was acquired.

The parliament last year amended the Law on Citizenship to allow depriving dual nationals of their Lithuanian citizenship granted by way of exception if the person publicly expresses support for a state that poses a threat to Lithuania or its allies’ security interests.

The provision was applied last year to revoke the Lithuanian citizenship of Margarita Drobiazko, a Russian ice dancer.

A journalistic investigation published by LRT on Wednesday shows that Lithuanian citizenship has been restored to persons serving in the Russian armed forces, as well as working in strategic companies and participating in politics in Russia.

Under the law, people who held Lithuanian citizenship before June 15, 1940 (the Soviet occupation) and their descendants are entitled to reclaim Lithuanian citizenship.