The Lithuanian commission will check the circumstances of Abramovich’s children obtaining citizenship

The head of the Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Agne Bilotaite, has formed a special commission to assess the circumstances under which the children of the Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich acquired Lithuanian citizenship. LRT.lt reports this.

The Migration Department has also been instructed to evaluate the list of persons and organizations subject to EU sanctions and to check whether other family members of sanctioned persons have Lithuanian citizenship.

Bilotaite stressed that granting citizenship should not be a hidden process, and the Lithuanian passport should not serve as a means of circumventing or abusing sanctions. According to her, in the context of a complex geopolitical situation, the protection of personal data cannot take precedence over national security interests.

The Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs also confirmed that citizenship was granted to two of Abramovich’s children before the military conflict between Russia and Ukraine, while Roman Abramovich himself does not have Lithuanian citizenship.

Bilotaite also announced that her department is working on relevant legal acts that will allow the revocation of Lithuanian citizenship in the event of a threat to national security and from persons who have received a passport based on origin. Currently, amendments to the legislation are in the process of approval.

Earlier it became known that two children of Roman Abramovich received Lithuanian citizenship, and Abramovich’s son received it two days before the start of a full-scale conflict in Ukraine. Presumably, this step was taken to provide the father with the opportunity to circumvent the sanctions.