Lithuania to check 800 foreigners with citizenship granted by exception
Lithuania’s Interior Ministry on Monday asked the country’s State Security Department (VSD) to check 800 foreigners who have Lithuanian citizenship granted by way of exception.
The move comes after LRT reporter on Sunday that Ilze Liepa, a Russian ballet dancer who also has Lithuanian citizenship, has publicly praised Vladimir Putin and his war in Ukraine.
“Having assessed the situation, the journalists’ investigation, and having identified inappropriate actions of this particular citizen, we today asked the VSD to check those 800 persons for the threat to national security and support for the actions of the aggressor state,” Deputy Interior Minister Arnoldas Abramavičius told reporters on Monday.
The Interior Ministry has also tasked the Migration Department to initiate proceedings for stripping Liepa of her Lithuanian citizenship. The department, in turn, has turned to the country’s competent authorities, asking them to assess Liepa’s public statements about the war in Ukraine and the Russian president.
According to the Law on Citizenship, a person is deprived of their Lithuanian citizenship acquired by way of exception if their actions threaten the security interests of Lithuania or if they publicly express their support for a state that threatens the security interests of Lithuania, other EU member states, or their allies.
In accordance with this provision, President Gitanas Nausėda has recently stripped Russian ice dancer Margarita Drobiazko of her Lithuanian citizenship after she and her Lithuanian husband Povilas Vanagas took part in projects organised by the wife of the Russian president’s spokesman.