Unexpectedly: Russian rapper Morgenshtern has been removed from Lithuania's 'blacklist' 0 15

The Migration Department had previously banned him from entering Lithuania, but the rapper appealed this decision to the Regional Administrative Court. The latter upheld the decision.

However, the Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania (GASL) overturned the decision of both the lower court and the Migration Department. The applicant was also awarded legal costs amounting to nearly 34 euros.

The court found that the Migration Department had unjustifiably relied on information provided by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as the primary factor in assessing the threat to national security.

According to the law, such an assessment is conducted by the State Security Department, but in this case, it did not present any conclusions, so the decision was based on "data from an incompetent institution."

GASL also stated that the data mentioned in the decision—listing by other states, information from open sources, previous statements, or creative works—do not in themselves pose a threat to Lithuania's national security.

It is also unclear on what specific grounds other states made their decisions, so this data cannot be automatically transferred to the Lithuanian context.

The court noted that some of the circumstances mentioned in the decision were based on assessments or opinions not supported by factual data.

For reference: Morgenshtern had previously expressed support for Russian President Vladimir Putin multiple times, but after the invasion of Ukraine that began in February 2022, he spoke out against Russia's military actions and criticized them in his songs.

In May 2022, the rapper was declared a "foreign agent" in Russia.

Last autumn, Morgenshtern was supposed to give a concert in Vilnius, but the then-mayor of Vilnius, Valdas Benkunskas, was outraged by such plans and appealed to the authorities to ban him from entering the country. The Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs could not refuse the mayor.