According to her, the unification of sanctions for citizens of Russia and Belarus would send a bad signal to the people persecuted by the regime of Alexander Lukashenko.
“I don’t support unification. I am of the same opinion as I was before, that unification would send a very bad signal to the Belarusian opposition living here, to all those whom Lithuania invited, saying that it is important for us to help the people who are being persecuted by the Lukashenka regime,” said the head of the parliament.
On Monday, three Seimas conservatives registered amendments to the law, proposing to tighten the restrictions on Belarusian citizens, making the sanctions similar to those applied to Russians, and the exception would be reserved only for Belarusians coming to do highly qualified work.
“Since our intelligence assessment showed that there is an increased threat from the Belarusian special services, that migrants who come to work in Lithuania and receive a residence permit, return, receive tasks, and security structures employees may also come to Lithuania to do their dirty work, are possibly being recruited , we have to protect ourselves and control its flow as much as possible, without stopping it completely”, one of the initiators of the amendments, the conservative vice-chairman of the Seimas, Paulius Saudargas, told BNS.
V. Čmilytė-Nielsen said that she heard the warnings of the VSD, but insisted that other measures were needed.
“(…) perhaps by strengthening institutions, providing more resources, funds, everything that is needed to control those flows of people”, said V. Čmilytė-Nielsen.
However, it seems to me that the submitted draft law does not achieve any of those goals, as there are a number of exceptions. In my mind, it’s more of just a step to show that something is being done, rather than something that could have a positive effect,” she added.
VSD also warns that Belarusian opposition and business representatives in Lithuania are being recruited through social networks.
It is estimated that there are currently over 60,000 in the country. citizens of Belarus. According to VSD, they are increasing every year and it is becoming difficult to check them all.
Aušrinė Armonaitė, the Minister of Economy and Innovation and the chairwoman of the Freedom Party, said that the faction will evaluate specific proposals, because “now the wording is different than it was when there was a previous discussion”.
“Migration must be controlled, it must be planned, but after saying A, the services must also say B – what they are doing. The services can also offer a way out – do they need more resources, and so on. Here, in the parliament, we will, of course, discuss,” she said.
The Seimas has already adopted a law on restrictive measures for citizens of Russia and Belarus, but fewer restrictions were introduced for the latter.
Russians and Belarusians are limited in their ability to obtain Lithuanian visas and electronic resident status, but for Russian citizens, the ability to come to Lithuania and purchase real estate is made even more difficult, and their applications for residence permits in the country are also temporarily not accepted.
President Gitanas Nausėda took the position that Belarusian citizens should be subject to the same sanctions as Russians, but the Seimas rejected his veto due to freer conditions for Belarusians.
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2024-07-30 09:04:50
