Lithuania’s Constitutional Court on Thursday announced that it has ruled that the legal provision under which Russian-born ice dancer Margarita Drobiazko was stripped of her Lithuanian citizenship does not breach the Constitution.
The court reviewed an appeal from the Regional Administrative Court, which had questioned amendments made to the Law on Citizenship in 2023. The legislation allows for citizenship granted by way of exception to be revoked if the individual’s actions pose a threat to Lithuania’s security or if they publicly support a state deemed hostile to Lithuania, the EU or their allies.
It was on this basis that President Gitanas Nausėda revoked Drobiazko’s citizenship in September 2023.
Constitutional Court president Gintaras Goda said judges were asked whether the provision conflicted with the Constitution, whether it could apply only to those who had gained citizenship by exception, and whether such decisions fell within the president’s competence.
“On all three issues, the court found no conflict with the Constitution,” Goda told reporters, adding that each case must still be assessed individually by the competent authorities and courts.
The court stressed that the provision was introduced in response to the geopolitical climate and was intended to safeguard national security. It confirmed that the president has the constitutional authority to revoke citizenship in cases when the person also has a citizenship of another country, and that this does not infringe the powers of other institutions.
However, Goda underlined that the ruling concerned only the constitutionality of the law itself, not the presidential decree in Drobiazko’s case. The matter will now return to the Regional Administrative Court for assessment of her individual circumstances, with the possibility of further appeal.
The Seimas amended the citizenship law in 2023, shortly before the president revoked Drobiazko’s Lithuanian nationality. Lawmakers argued she had expressed public support for the Kremlin while maintaining close ties with Tatyana Navka, the wife of Vladimir Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov, who is under EU and US sanctions.
Drobiazko, who represented Lithuania in international competitions alongside her Lithuanian husband Povilas Vanagas, had been granted Lithuanian citizenship by way of exception in the 1990s for her contribution to sport.
The president has also revoked citizenship in two other cases – Latvian ballerina Ilze Liepa and former KGB officer Yuri Kudimov – both of which have been contested.
Under the existing Law on Citizenship, foreigners can acquire Lithuanian citizenship on other grounds, not only by way of exception. For example, dual citizenship is permitted for those who left or were exiled from Lithuania before the restoration of independence as well as their descendants who married a Lithuanian citizen.
Newsletter
Every Friday morning.
