Lithuania seeks clearer rules to bar Russia and Belarus performers

Lithuania’s Government has proposed refining a conservative-backed plan to bar foreign nationals from entering the country if they have carried out cultural or related activities in Russia, Belarus or territories occupied by them since the start of the war in Ukraine, LRT reported.

The proposal, drafted by Vilnius Mayor Valdas Benkunskas and Seimas member Vytautas Kernagis, would allow entry bans of up to five years. The Seimas has already approved the conservative proposal after its initial presentation.

At a meeting on Wednesday, the Government broadly backed the proposal’s aims but recommended that the Seimas not consider it because they could be achieved through amendments to the Law on the Establishment of Restrictive Measures Due to Military Aggression Against Ukraine, drafted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The ministry’s draft would prohibit Russian and Belarusian individuals, legal entities and organisations from carrying out public activities in Lithuania in education, science and studies, culture, sports, the arts and entertainment if they meet specified criteria.

However, if the Seimas decides to consider the proposed law, the Government wants the grounds, conditions and criteria for entry bans to be defined more clearly. It said a ban could not be based solely on the formal fact that a person had carried out cultural, concert, entertainment or related activities in Russia, Belarus or their occupied territories after February 24, 2022.

The Government also proposed defining more precisely which activities could justify restrictions and assessing their nature, scale, intensity and links to propaganda, disinformation or threats to national security. It called for an individual assessment mechanism, compliance with the principle of proportionality and possible grounds for exemptions or for not applying the restrictions.

BNS has reported that Lithuania has already taken separate decisions to bar several performers who support Vladimir Putin’s regime and have performed in Russia or Crimea. One of them is rapper Gio Pika, whose real name is Georgy Dzhioyev.