S. Cichanouskaja: 2 thousand. Belarusians suspended the issuance of residence permits in Lithuania

She and other representatives of the Belarusian opposition asked Lithuanian politicians not to introduce new restrictions and “not to build an iron curtain” between the countries.

“About 2 thousand Belarusians suspended the issuance of temporary residence permits in Lithuania. Of course, this causes us great fears, we do not know each individual case, but most of these people cannot return to Belarus, because they will be persecuted there or put in prison,” S. Cichanouskaja told journalists following the meeting with Lithuanian politicians in the Seimas.

“Besides, we don’t know the reasons for that pause. Even in my office, where people who are at risk of the regime’s crackdown really work, the majority have received questions regarding the extension of permits,” she said.

Please do not compare with the Russians

After the 2020 presidential elections, the Belarusian opposition leader residing in Vilnius asked Lithuanian politicians not to introduce new restrictions on Belarusian citizens living in Lithuania, but to focus on the supporters of Aliaksander Lukashenko’s regime.

“We understand the security concerns and are ready to help identify regime agents and supporters.” You have to plug the holes of the European sanctions so that the repression of the regime and the war in Ukraine are not financed,” S. Cichanouskaja said.

She said that her office can help Lithuanian special services to check Belarusians applying for residence permits in Lithuania because it has its own database.

According to S. Cichanouskaja, the constant threat of deportation or loss of residence permit demoralizes Belarusians.

The co-chairman of the Belarusian Christian Democrats, Vitalis Rymašeuskis, who lives in Poland, rejected claims that Belarusians pose a threat to Lithuania’s national security.

“Today, Belarusians are people without a state, because our government does not represent our interests. We feel today like the Jews once did, when they didn’t have a state,” he said.

“Please don’t build an iron curtain, there is no country that can defeat the enemy by building a Chinese wall. (…) People who fight once morest the regime need support”, said V. Rymašeuskis.

S. Cichanouskaja’s adviser Anatolis Liabedzka reminded that at the time when Europe was friends with the authoritarian president, the Seimas of Lithuania founded a friendship group with the democratic parliament of Belarus. According to him, this was a wise strategic move looking into the future and urged not to make snap decisions now.

According to A. Liabedzka, Lithuanians traveling to Belarus can pose a threat to national security.

“I was in a hairdresser and I talked to Lithuanian citizens, they told me how they had gone to Belarus, what a wonderful country it is, what classic roads, cheap vodka. When I asked how they got there, it turns out that every Sunday many buses from Lithuanian tourism agencies take people to Belarus. (…) Maybe there is a problem of national security here?” he asked.

A. Liabedzka said that he was waiting for his granddaughter to come for the New Year celebrations.

“Yes, I want my granddaughter to have the opportunity to come. Is it a crime? Am I asking the impossible?” he said.

Law amendments have been registered in the Seimas of Lithuania, which propose to tighten the restrictions on citizens of Belarus living here. It is proposed to apply the same sanctions to them as to Russian citizens – this means that the acceptance of applications for a temporary residence permit in Lithuania through an external service provider abroad would be stopped, and it is also proposed that in order to extend residence permits to foreigners, they should pass a Lithuanian language exam, apply other strictures.

The amendments were prepared taking into account the reports of Lithuanian intelligence regarding the activation of Belarusian special intelligence and threats to national security due to the increase in the number of foreigners.

Different opinions

Conservative Audronius Ažubalis, one of the draft’s authors, told reporters that he had asked the Belarusian opposition to submit in writing which of the proposed norms are worrying.

“Anyway, there are very few political refugees who ask for (asylum – BNS), most of them are economic emigrants who travel back and forth and in a certain way they can become hostages of the Belarusian special services. If you live here in the opposition and wait for your grandson to come from Belarus, that’s it, you can be tied up,” said the MP.

At that time, Social Democrat Julius Sabatauskas reminded that following the 2020 presidential election and subsequent repressions, Lithuania offered asylum not only to political refugees, but also invited Belarusian businesses to come.

“It’s very easy to hack, and if you cut off an arm or a leg, let alone a head, you won’t grow it back,” he said.

The representative of the Democratic faction Tomas Tomilinas emphasized that Lithuania, by strengthening the opposition of Belarus, in turn contributes to future changes in authoritarian countries.

Will prepare a joint document

After the meeting in the Seimas, S. Cichanouskaja also called for an end to political discussions regarding Litvinism, as these theories have no support in the Belarusian community.

“Let’s leave this topic to the historians and let it be clear – the territory of Lithuania, the history of Lithuania belongs to the people of Lithuania, period,” said the leader of the opposition.

The representatives of Belarus proposed to prepare and publish a joint document expressing a position regarding this ideology that questions the historical independence of Lithuania.

Lithuanian intelligence identifies litvinism as a radical branch of Belarusian nationalism.

A. Ažubalis supported this initiative, but did not agree because it is an unpopular ideology.

“I am not convinced when they say it is a small percentage. The monuments that are built and the books that are published form a certain collective identity, a generation, in Gudija. To say that there is nothing there, only marginals – that’s what I told my colleagues, that it is not convincing,” he said.

As discussions on the potential threats of Litvinism ideology intensified in social networks, the Department of State Security (VSD) announced in August that the activities of Litvinism supporters may increase inter-ethnic tension in Lithuania, but do not pose a real threat to Lithuania’s sovereignty.

VSD claims that Litvinism is a radical branch of Belarusian nationalism, one of the main ideological positions of which is the denial of the Baltic origin of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the princely dynasties that ruled it, and questioning the affiliation of a large part of Lithuania’s territory, including Vilnius. Supporters of Litvinism also make territorial claims to other states bordering Belarus.

The VSD claims that the ideological confrontation between Lithuanians and Belarusians influenced by the ideology of Litvinism has been going on for more than two decades in niche Internet resources dedicated to history.