Lithuania Considers Amendments To Law Affecting Belarusians

• 12.02.2024, 11:37

Details.

The Lithuanian Seimas will introduce amendments to laws proposing to extend for another year the national sanctions applied to citizens of Russia and Belarus, as well as to tighten controls on Belarusians entering the country, writes Delfi.lt.

Last week, the government approved a proposal to extend for another year the restrictions on Russian citizens, as well as to tighten checks on Belarusian citizens arriving in Lithuania.

According to the draft, in cases where citizens of the Republic of Belarus cross the border with a Schengen visa, the State Border Guard Service officers will have to conduct an additional risk assessment and, if necessary, more detailed checks.

As in the previous decision, the amendments to the law provide for restrictions on the issuance of visas to Russians and Belarusians. Exceptions are foreseen for persons who are family members of citizens of Lithuania or other European Union (EU) countries, members of crews engaged in international transport.

The restrictions will also not apply to persons travelling to Lithuania for humanitarian reasons.

The draft law also proposes to specify that the restrictive measure will apply to legal entities whose beneficiaries are Russian citizens, regardless of whether they have temporary or permanent residence permits in Lithuania.

Last spring, the Seimas introduced national sanctions against citizens of Russia and Belarus. The draft law on restrictive measures due to the military aggression against Ukraine tightened the procedure for granting permanent and temporary residence permits, issuing visas and banned the movement of Russian citizens across the EU's external border.