Amid heated discussions about the Belarusian opposition using symbols derived from the historic Grand Duchy of Lithuania, a heraldry specialist notes that present-day Belarus has as much claim to them as modern Lithuania.
The controversy arose when the office of Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsykhanouskaya presented the design of special documents to be issued to foreign-based activists who cannot have their Belarusian passports renewed. The design contains an armoured knight on a horse, a symbol known as the Vytis in Lithuania and Pahonia in Belarus. The Vytis is Lithuania’s official coat of arms and some politicians expressed indignation about Belarusians using it.
According to Agnė Railaitė-Bardė, chairwoman of the Lithuania Heraldry Commission, both the Lithuanian and the Belarusian symbols originate from the same coat of arms used in the Grand Duchy. The historic state existed until the late eighteenth century and covered present-day Lithuania, Belarus, and parts of Ukraine.
“The Vytis was the coat of arms of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, meaning that the inhabitants of all the lands that were part of the Grand Duchy, not only ethnic Lithuanians, did not have another state coat of arms – only the Vytis,” Railaitė-Bardė said in a written comment to BNS.
The Heraldry Commission, formed by a presidential decree and accountable to the president, provides advice, recommendations and proposals on heraldic matters and coordinates heraldic projects.
“In Belarusian history, the Vytis is linked to the period when the country was part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and several years in the last decade of the 20th century, when the Vytis was the official coat of arms of Belarus,” the commission chairwoman said.
The Belarusian opposition argues that Pahonia and Vytis are similar but not identical symbols and emphasises that they are using national symbols that existed in Belarus before the authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko came to power.
“Essentially, both words mean an armoured rider – the Vytis – but they are just named differently in different languages. We capitalize ‘Vytis’ when referring to the official Lithuanian state coat of arms – the riding knight on a red shield, as laid out in our laws governing emblems and heraldic signs,” Railaitė-Bardė said.
The Vytis is one of the oldest European coats of arms with its origin going back to Lithuanian dukes’ portrait seals, according to the chairwoman.
Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who lives in Lithuania, shared a mock-up of the “passport” on social media last week. In her post, she also thanked the Lithuanian government for its “support and advice”.
Although this “passport” is not officially recognised as a travel document, the Belarusian politician says she regularly raises this issue in meetings with foreign politicians.
Conservative MP Audronius Ažubalis has raised concerns about the potential use of Lithuanian symbols and brought the matter to the Foreign Ministry.
Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys has emphasised that the Lithuanian government is not involved in the rollout of the Belarusian opposition “passports”.
President Gitanas Nausėda has said that the Vytis is a Lithuanian symbol, but it could be used by other “freedom-loving” nations “that don’t kowtow to Putin”. However, he acknowledged that the “legal and diplomatic aspects” of the use of this symbol in the Belarusian “passports” should be examined.
Tsikhanouskaya declined to comment on the debate in Lithuania.
This is not the first time the passports being prepared by the Belarusian opposition have sparked controversy in Lithuania. Photographs of a document mock-up, made public in early 2023, incorrectly depicted the border between Lithuania and Belarus.
At the time, the Belarusian opposition called it a “technical error” and promised to correct it.
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