No more Lithuanian citizens with family ties to EU-sanctioned persons found
The Migration Department’s probe, launched after it emerged that two children of Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich hold Lithuanian passports, has not found any more Lithuanian citizens with family ties to individuals subject to EU sanctions.
According to the Interior Ministry, the Migration Department has checked 3,571 individuals on the sanctions lists and found that none of them or their spouses or children currently holds Lithuanian citizenship.
Evelina Gudzinskaitė, head of the Migration Department, said earlier this month that the body had found a number of Lithuanian citizens who might have family ties to EU-sanctioned individuals.
“We found some coincidences and had suspicions as to whether everything was okay. We started to check files manually,” she said, adding that the preliminary information was not confirmed.
The probe was launched after it was reported that two children of Abramovich hold Lithuanian passports and may have helped their father circumvent international sanctions.
The Interior Ministry has also told BNS that legal amendments are currently being finalised to allow stripping people of Lithuanian citizenship acquired by descent.
Last year, the parliament amended the Law on Citizenship to allow stripping a dual citizen of their Lithuanian citizenship granted by way of exception if the person publicly expresses support for a state that poses a threat to Lithuania or its allies’ security interests.
The law has so far been applied once to revoke the Lithuanian citizenship of Margarita Drobiazko, a Russian ice dancer. A citizenship review process has also been launched for Ilze Liepa, a Russian ballet dancer.