Russians and Belarusians look to Lithuania: open doors or punish war in Ukraine?
As writes an independent news portal in Russian Meduza.ioTbilisi has become a kind of capital of Russian political emigration.
In the first weeks of Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine, dozens of Russian citizens arrived in Sakartvela, which had no direct contact with Russia.
About 12 of them remained Sakartvele writes Meduza.io. They promise to return when the Russian regime collapses.
The Minister of Economy and Innovation Aušrinė Armonaitė recently stated that Thousands of high-tech specialists from Belarus and Russia want to relocate to Lithuania.
The Minister of the Interior Agnė Bilotaitė prepared an order by which based on citizens from Russia and Belarus, together with their family members can be transferred to Lithuania and work here.
The fact that there may be more people fleeing Russia has been talked about recently Kęstutis Budrys, Chief Adviser on National Security to President Gitanas Nausėda.
This stimulates debate whether Lithuania should accept these people against the background of the war in Ukraine, or whether it will not happen that we can let in a kind of Trojan horse and the like.
Opinions for and against
Reviewer Marius Laurinavičius wrote on Facebook that those who were previously comfortable living under the regimes are now largely leaving Russia and Belarus, and the sanctions have made them less comfortable.
In his view, everyone coming from these countries should be viewed through a magnifying glass, and before we let them in we should get evidence that they were in fact opposing the regime, not actively fighting them.
Public relations expert Andrius Baranauskas is convinced that Russians fleeing Putin’s regime need to be accepted.
He agrees that the arguments to the contrary are strong, but he believes it is an opportunity for us. The newcomers are expected to strengthen both our security and our economy.
“And I think the more we accept, the weaker Putin’s regime will be,” he wrote on Facebook.
Public relations expert Mykolas Katkus wrote on Facebook that he decided to accept Russians, to understand that we accept people who are sick for the best football team like V. Putin, enjoy the same music as he heard the same slogans that V. Putin created. “Europeans” Konstantin Ernst or Vladislav Surkov.
“And this is a much bigger problem than their direct links to intelligence or a relative of the FSB (although it will be). It is a bomb, the same as the Russian fifth column in Germany, picketing with USSR flags for the destruction of the Ukrainian nation. By the way, the Lithuanian Russians did not do so, respecting them for it, as well as for Inokentijus’ statement, “he wrote.
Katkus said he was responsible for hoping for conversion, but he must start with an understanding, best declared in writing, that the Kremlin has committed a murderous regime, blew up the homes of its citizens, destroyed entire nations, a man must realize that he was and is like a Russian or a Russian citizen. And an apology to the Ukrainians and other killed nations.
Second, his eyes need a natural process. Third, we definitely need double or triple counterintelligence capabilities.
Some such duplicity
According to Paulius Gritėnas, a philosopher and a member of the council of the Human Rights Monitoring Institute (HRMI), we should give priority to the reception of war refugees from Ukraine at this time.
He said their numbers are likely to grow and that more resources will be needed to make adoption and at least partial integration an ongoing process.
In addition, after the first weeks of enthusiasm, the number of volunteers or those who want to receive may decrease later, non-governmental organizations will not bear all the burden, then the state will definitely need more attention.
According to P.Gritėnas, it goes without saying that it is widespread that we should not accept refugees from other countries as well.
But, in his head, a consistent line of argument should be maintained: first and foremost, those refugees who are in real danger of deprivation of liberty or physical detention are at risk of accepting their health or lives.
“The offer to accept Belarusian or Russian people just because they help to develop and our IT sector sounds like a bit of a duplicity. During the previous waves of refugees, it was emphasized that Lithuania is not open to economic migrants.
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