The biggest approved innovation is the ban on importing agricultural products and fodder originating in Russia or Belarus into Lithuania. The specific list of prohibited products and fodder will be approved by the Government.
On Thursday, 109 members of the Seimas voted for the extension of the law on the establishment of restrictive measures due to military aggression against Ukraine, two MPs were against and eight MPs abstained.
Conservative Žygymantas Pavilionis, chairman of the Seimas Committee on Foreign Affairs (URK), said that it is unacceptable to compare the citizens of Russia and Belarus, because for 30 years, different policies have been implemented and different attitudes have been applied to these people.
URK conservative member Audronius Ažubalis claimed that after Russia started a war in Ukraine and Belarus supported it, the attitude changed.
“Probably the authors of this amendment forgot that we have repeatedly named Belarus in our official documents as participating in the aggression against Ukraine, just like Russia, so the restrictive conditions that apply to Russian citizens should also apply to Belarusian citizens,” he said.
After the Seimas decided not to prohibit Belarusian citizens from purchasing real estate in Lithuania, A. Ažubalis emphasized that the removal of additional sanctions against Belarusians makes this law useless.
“It turns out that we are opening the door to Belarusian oligarchs. Go ahead, men,” he said.
On Thursday, the proposal to limit Russian and Belarusian trips to their homeland was not even considered, because there were not enough votes for it to be accepted for consideration.
An addition was removed from the project, which was approved on Tuesday, that those Russians and Belarusians who intentionally and systematically publicly disseminate false information that is against the interests of society or the state should lose their temporary residence permit in Lithuania, as well as if they publicly agree with documents of the United Nations Organization or decisions of international courts. for the recognized crime of aggression in violation of the Charter of the United Nations.
The initiators of additional sanctions against Belarusians and Russians relied on the assessment of the Lithuanian intelligence services that when traveling to Russia and Belarus, persons experience the risk of being recruited by the special services of these countries.
The government proposed to extend the restrictive measures for Russians and Belarusians for another year, because the war started by Russia against Ukraine on February 24, 2022 continues, the reasons for which this law was adopted last year have not disappeared.
According to the law adopted last year, Russians and Belarusians are limited in their ability to obtain Lithuanian visas and electronic resident status, the ability of Russian citizens to come to Lithuania and purchase real estate is further complicated, and their applications for residence permits in Lithuania are also temporarily not accepted.
The national sanctions law adopted on Thursday will be valid until May 2, 2025.
It will still have to be signed by President Gitanas Nausėda. Last year, he vetoed such a law due to the different sanctions imposed on citizens of Russia and Belarus, but the Seimas rejected this veto
According to the Migration Department, 62 thousand people currently have residence permits in Lithuania. 884 citizens of Belarus and 15 thousand 678 Russian citizens.
Tags: Lithuanian Parliament extended sanctions Russians Belarusians year
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