Belarus

President Gitanas Nausėda argues that the European Union’s solidarity mechanism on migrant quotas does not take into account that thousands of refugees from Ukraine and Belarus already live in Lithuania.

Responsible authorities have agreed to build a physical barrier on marshy areas at the borders with Belarus and Russia, the Ministry of the Interior said on Wednesday.

A UN Refugee Agency’s representative has stated that Lithuania should allow irregular migrants enter the country before determining their status, a position highly disputed by Lithuanian politicians. Minister of the Interior Agnė Bilotaitė suggests that the situation of migrants in Belarus should be...

Interior Minister Agnė Bilotaitė says her ministry has already drafted amendments to the law on foreigners’ legal status to enable a mechanism for issuing a foreigner’s passport to opponents of Alexander Lukashenko’s regime only.

Latvia’s parliamentary commission has decided not to lower the age limit for Russian citizens who have to pass the Latvian language exam in order to keep their residence permit, delfi.lv reports.

President Gitanas Nausėda expects authorities to improve the protection of the border with Russia after a father kidnapped his child and fled to Kaliningrad region by crossing a river in a rubber boat last week.

The Ministry of the Interior will propose to the Government to consider closing two more checkpoints at the border with Belarus. On Monday, Minister of the Interior Agnė Bilotaitė is visiting Warsaw, to meet with Polish, Latvian and Estonian counterparts to discuss border security amid the continuin...

Belarusian activist Olga Karach appealed against the Migration Department’s decision not to grant her asylum because of her links to Russian intelligence.

Almost one million packs of illegal cigarettes were seized at the border with Belarus a few days ago, the Lithuanian Customs said on Friday. The cigarettes were disguised as a load of polyester fibre in transit to Poland.

The National Security Commission is considering prohibiting some Lithuanians from travelling to Russia and Belarus due to safety concerns. If regulations are amended, this would apply not only on state officials, officers and soldiers, but also on individuals working with classified information.

The Migration Department recently refused to grant political asylum to Belarusian activist Olga Karach, head of the international centre for civil initiatives Our House (Nash Dom) Belarus & Lithuania, after the State Security Department (VSD) concluded that she poses a threat to Lithuania’s national...

The number of Russian and Belarusian citizens seeking international protection in Estonia has soared since the start of Russia’s full-scale military invasion of Ukraine last February, according to the Estonian Police and Border Guard Board (PPA). The number of Ukrainians who have applied for asylum ...

Representatives of the international centre for civil initiatives Our House (Nash Dom), Belarus & Lithuania urge to distinguish Belarusians citizens fleeing from the Lukashenko regime from Russians and not to impose identical restrictions on them.

At the initiative of Estonia’s Minister of Justice Kalle Laanet (Reform), though not via a draft prepared by Ministry of Justice staff, the right to vote in local elections in Estonia would be stripped from citizens of a foreign country recognised as an aggressor state, reports public broadcaster ER...

The Lithuanian Government has decided to temporarily close two checkpoints at the border with Belarus starting 18 August. MP Laurynas Kasčiūnas explains that the move comes after the security situation in the region has changed and also looking to tackle the smuggling of goods. He told the public br...

The presence of several thousand Wagner private military company’s mercenaries in Belarus intimidates neighbouring countries, which consider stricter policies for incoming Belarusian citizens, says Speaker of the Seimas Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen says. Yet she stresses that Lithuania must continue su...

On Wednesday, the Lithuanian Government approved temporary closure of two border crossing points with Belarus starting 18 August.

The State Border Guard Service (VSAT) announced that a fake image was posted online claiming that a mercenary from Wagner private military company had crossed the border from Belarus to Lithuania.

Prime Minister of Lithuania Ingrida Šimonytė believes there are grounds to consider introducing identical restrictions for Belarusian citizens as Russian nationals as a result of Wagner Group presence in Belarus.

Lithuanian news website delfi.lt has become inaccessible in Belarus, users in the neighbouring country have noticed.

More than a thousand Belarusian and Russian citizens have been recognised as posing a threat to Lithuania’s national security and have been banned from entering the country since the end-autumn last year, the Migration Department said.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs advises Lithuanians not to travel to Belarus due to hostile activities and provocations of the Minsk regime against Lithuanian citizens. Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Mantas Adomėnas notes that Belarusian border guards pressure and blackmail travellers.

On Tuesday, Commander of the State Border Guard Service (VSAT) General Rustamas Liubajevas met with President Gitanas Nausėda. Afterwards, speaking about the planned closure of two border crossing points at the border with Belarus, Liubajevas told reporters that this would contribute to enhancing th...

Lithuania is considering closing two border crossing points on the border with Belarus due to Wagner Group presence in the neighbouring country. President’s adviser Darius Urbonas says the move would not have economic impact.

Closing some of the border checkpoints is a question of time amid threats posed by the Wagner mercenary group’s presence in Belarus, says the parliament’s security committee chair. Full border closure would be considered if the situation escalates, he says.

On Thursday, President Gitanas Nausėda met with Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki in Suwałki to discuss the security situation on the border, the threats posed by the presence of the Wagner group in Belarus, the likelihood of provocations and the readiness to counter them, the presidency repo...

Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis urges travellers planning to go to Belarus to assess all the risks involved. His statement comes after helicopters from neighbouring Belarus violated Polish airspace on Tuesday.

The flights of Belarusian helicopters reportedly breaching Polish airspace may have been an attempt by the Lukashenko regime to test its western borders, the chair of the parliament’s security committee says.

National Defence Minister Arvydas Anušauskas refuses to say whether Lithuania would follow Poland’s example and consider mining its border due to the threat posed by Wagner mercenaries relocated to Belarus.

On 24-30 July, fighter aircraft conducting the NATO Air Policing Mission in the Baltic States were scrambled three times to identify and escort aircraft of the Russian Federation flying in violation of flight rules in international airspace over the Baltic Sea and once to patrol the airspace border ...