Over 900 Belarusian and 200 Russian citizens who live in Lithuania have been deprived of their residence permits after being deemed “a threat to national security.”
Lithuanian authorities announced the action they had taken to strip citizens of the two belligerent nations in the war with Ukraine of their right to reside in the Baltic nation on Friday.
The Migration Department introduced a questionnaire last year for Russian and Belarusian citizens applying for residence. It includes one question asking for the applicant’s position on Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. This constitutes a basis for determining whether a person poses a threat to national security.
The percentage of those ordered to leave the country is only a fraction of the large Belarusian and Russian communities living in Lithuania. Around 58,000 Belarusian citizens and 16,000 Russian citizens currently reside in the country.
Those who have been stripped of their rights have the right to appeal the decision, otherwise, they have one month to leave Lithuania, the Migration Department stated.
Meanwhile, Latvian authorities plan next month to send letters to 6,000 Russian citizens ordering them to leave the country. However, this only applies to people who have not taken the Latvian language test.
A year ago, the parliament in Riga passed regulations according to which Russian citizens can only receive a permanent residence permit after proving their knowledge of the state language.
In total, 18,000 people were supposed to take the exam. Those who did not do so will have three months to leave Latvia.
