Lithuania should accept Belarusian immigrants who believe in democracy

By penalising those with distant or even irrelevant ties to Belarusian state institutions, Lithuania risks undermining its own democratic values. 

Over the last two years, Lithuania has tightened its policies on granting residence permits to Belarusian nationals due to national security concerns. While Lithuania’s concerns are understandable, the current measures unfairly jeopardise the lives of people who share Lithuania’s democratic values and are actively opposed to both Alexander Lukashenko and Vladimir Putin. 

In light of the ever-increasing Belarusian threat to Lithuania’s national security, the government has taken on a more critical approach when it comes to granting residence permits to Belarusian nationals. In 2024, some 2,000 Belarusians did not have their temporary residence permit renewed, and around 600 were even banned from entering Lithuania. 

Among these people is Vasyl Veremeychyk. In 2010, when he was only twenty years of age, he joined the Belarusian armed forces, where he served until 2016. As he got older, he had a change of heart and participated in the anti-Lukashenko protests in 2020. As expected in a dictatorship, the threat of arrest became imminent, after which Vasyl flew to Ukraine, which granted him a visa. Here, he fought as a volunteer alongside the Ukrainian  armed forces in their battle against the Russian invaders until he was wounded.

He then applied for political asylum in Lithuania, where his wife and daughter were waiting for him. Tragically, due to his military past in Belarus, Vasyl was deemed a “threat to national security” in May 2024 and barred from the country, which led to him getting banned from entering the EU altogether. After several relocations, he ended up in Vietnam, where he was arrested and extradited to Belarus within a day. Now, he is facing a twenty-year prison sentence or possibly even the death penalty for his heroic actions in Ukraine. 

One of many

Unfortunately, Vasyl’s story is not an anomaly. 

In 2023, Belarusian Alexei was separated from his wife and two young children and deported to Belarus after having lived in Lithuania for the last seventeen years. He too was deemed a “threat to national security” by the Lithuanian authorities for serving in the Belarusian army over two decades ago. According to the Migration Department, the amount of time spent in Lithuania and the presence of a family are not valid arguments for staying in the country. 

However, it is not only ex-military personnel who are victimised by Lithuania’s ruthless policy. In 2023, 33-year-old Olga was denied a temporary residence permit and subsequently banned from the EU for five years due to her past work as an accountant for Belarusian Railways, a state-owned company. The Migration Department argued she could be recruited by the Belarusian KGB because of it. The decision put Olga in a position where she is separated from her husband, since he cannot go back to Belarus due to a criminal prosecution against him for participating in the anti-government protests. 

In September 2024, Leonid, along with his wife and two children, received a letter from the Migration Department. It said their residence permits had been revoked, and they must leave the country within 14 days. The reason for this was Leonid’s past work at a Belarusian nuclear plant. The decision does not take into account that Leonid, a nuclear physicist by education, was assigned to this position on a mandatory placement after completing his degree.

The list goes on. 

Shortsighted policies

These heartbreaking cases are not isolated incidents, but rather reflections of a broader issue within Lithuania’s current migration policy toward Belarusian nationals. While the government’s vigilance in the face of national security threats is understandable and in essence desirable, its blanket approach unfairly targets individuals who pose no real threat.

By penalising those with distant or even irrelevant ties to Belarusian state institutions, Lithuania risks undermining its own democratic values it is fighting so hard to defend. 

Lithuania’s current policies are far too shortsighted, failing to take the complexities of individual circumstances into account.

Many of the affected Belarusians, like Vasyl, Alexei, Olga, and Leonid, find themselves victimised by a system that prioritises past affiliations over recent actions and intent. They are people who have risked everything to stand against the regimes of both Lukashenko and Putin. In some cases, even their lives.

These people have come to Lithuania because they share its values and envision a better future for themselves, their loved ones and their homeland. Instead, they find themselves labelled as threats, often with devastating consequences. 

Isolate Lukashenko, not Belarusians

For these reasons, Lithuania should re-evaluate its migration policy and adopt a more nuanced approach. A statute of limitations on past affiliations with the Belarusian regime should be implemented, taking into account the nature of the affiliations, the duration and recency, and the extent to which alternative options were available for these individuals.

Most of the time, people living in a dictatorship end up working for a state-owned institution due to a lack of alternatives and stability, not for ideological reasons. Additionally, individuals’ recent actions and intent should weigh more heavily in Lithuania’s decision-making process.

This would ensure a fairer and more effective system. After all, we need to isolate the Lukashenko regime, not Belarusians. 

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