Lithuania says it’s going to challenge particular journey paperwork to Belarusian residents within the Baltic nation who have been stripped of the correct to get new passports by Minsk
ByThe Related Press
September 11, 2023, 6:06 AM
FILE – A girl holds a Belarusian passport as she waits her flip to solid a vote within the Belarusian presidential election, outdoors the Belarusian Embassy in Moscow, Russia, Sunday, Aug. 9, 2020. Belarus emigrants in Lithuania who have been stripped of the correct to get new passports by Minsk, will be capable to obtain particular Lithuanian journey paperwork, authorities within the southernmost Baltic state mentioned Monday, Sept. 11, 2023. (AP Photograph/Pavel Golovkin, File)
The Related Press
VILNIUS, Lithuania — Belarusian emigrants in Lithuania who have been stripped of the correct to get new passports by Minsk, will be capable to obtain particular Lithuanian journey paperwork, authorities within the southernmost Baltic state mentioned Monday.
Such passports shall be issued to Belarusian residents who’ve the correct to reside in Lithuania however should not have a passport or a corresponding journey doc, the Inside Ministry mentioned.
It should permit them to depart and enter Lithuania, which shares a 679-kilometer (422-mile) border with Belarus.
“A foreigner’s passport is legitimate for multiple 12 months however maybe that time period could possibly be longer if the parliament would lengthen it,” deputy Inside Minister Arnoldas Abramavicius mentioned.
Final week, Minsk introduced that its diplomatic missions would not challenge passports to residents completely residing overseas in a transfer thought-about a blow to the Belarusian emigrant communities in Europe. The ban may power those that fled the nation amid rising repression to return to keep up their journey paperwork.
An estimated 200-300,000 Belarusians have left the nation within the final three years since large protests in opposition to an election that returned President Alexander Lukashenko to workplace led to a harsh crackdown on the opposition.
Based on official Lithuanian figures, greater than 58,000 Belarusian residents are at present residing in Lithuania, together with members of the opposition to Lukashenko, an ally of Russia.
Amongst them is Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, a number one determine who fled to Lithuania after Lukashenko claimed victory in disputed 2020 vote. She earlier warned Belarusians, saying that “even when your passport expires, you shouldn’t return to your private home nation should you threat persecution.”
