The Seimas Committee on Foreign Affairs has approved the extension until 2028 of the current national sanctions against citizens of Russia and Belarus, but deemed them insufficient and decided to обратиться to the government with a request to prepare a new, stricter draft law. This was reported by LRT, citing BNS.
Conservatives proposed to equalize sanctions for citizens of both countries: to suspend the issuance of new residence permits for Belarusians, as for Russians, restrict travel to Belarus and Russia, allow the purchase of real estate only to permanent residents of Lithuania, and ban the purchase of property near strategic facilities. The committee did not directly approve these initiatives, since under the law only the government has the right to initiate restrictive measures.
The committee agreed for now not to approve these proposals, as under the Law on Sanctions the government has the exclusive right to initiate possible restrictions, and parliamentarians cannot do so. However, the government will be asked to independently assess the proposals and prepare a new draft law.
“We need to sit down once and start talking about the danger that Belarus poses to Lithuania,” said conservative Audronius Ažubalis.
His colleague in the faction, Mindaugas Lingė, noted that since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, citizens of Russia and Belarus have acquired real estate near strategic facilities, airports and training grounds. According to him, the State Security Department does not control these transactions, as the law does not require it to do so.
“Not doing this further would be criminal negligence from the point of view of national security,” he said.
