Today, at the initiative of Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Lithuanian Seimas held a hearing on the legal status of Belarusians in Lithuania.
The Chairman of the Committee, Žygimantas Pavilionis, and his deputies, as well as members of the group “For a Democratic Belarus”, participated in the hearings. The Belarusian side was represented by Anatoli Liabedzka, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya’s Advisor for Interparliamentary Cooperation, and representatives of Belarusian political parties – United Civic Party, Movement “For Freedom”, Hramada, and the Belarusian Christian Democracy.
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya addressed the Committee, urging Lithuania to refrain from non-proportional restrictions against Belarusians: “ I ask you to prolong the duration of visas and residence permits. Refrain from non-proportional restrictions based on Belarusian nationality. And finally, I beg you not to put us in the same basket with Russians. Because it is exactly what dictators want.
Today, there are up to seventy thousand Belarusians in Lithuania, who left the country after 2020. They pay taxes and integrate into Lithuanian society. Many relocated businesses came here because they did not want to pay taxes to Lukashenka. Most of them work with the EU and US markets. Combined, they generate more than 490 million Euros per year. It’s a substantial contribution to the Lithuanian economy”.
Ms. Tsikhanouskaya also assumed that the influx of Belarusians to Lithuania in 2024 must not be as drastic as in recent years. Following the meeting, the Committee agreed to support the proposal to extend the validity of residence permits to 3 years, but the decision must have the approval from the Seimas.
