The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Lithuania opposed the strengthening of sanctions against citizens of Belarus and Russia

The idea of tightening sanctions against citizens of Russia and Belarus will cause additional difficulties for Lithuanian law enforcement agencies. This was reported in the Lithuanian Ministry of Internal Affairs.

The ministry noted that the proposal to deprive Russians and Belarusians who often travel to their homeland of a residence permit would create a significant burden on The State Border Guard Service and the Migration Department, because "this will require constant supervision and control." According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, control over such movement of foreigners "will be difficult to organize."

"The State Border Guard Service will not be able to track if a person enters Lithuania through another EU country, for example, Poland. And the Migration Department will not be able to check how many times he crossed the border of the European Union," the department believes.

Recall, on March 13 it became known that the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry proposes to the Seimas to extend national sanctions against citizens of Belarus and Russia for a year until May 2, 2026. The next day, the chairman of the conservative party "Union of the Fatherland — Christian Democrats of Lithuania" Laurinas Kaschiunas proposed to tighten restrictions for Belarusians.According to him, if a citizen of Belarus with a residence permit in Lithuania returns to his homeland at least once every three months "for biased reasons, without explanation, that is, he does it regularly," then the residence permit issued to him should be canceled.