The attempt to legislatively ban entry into Lithuania for representatives of culture and show business working in Russia and Belarus failed the first vote in the Seimas.
An amendment to the Law on the Legal Status of Foreigners, proposed by a group of parliamentarians, was rejected at the presentation stage. It received 32 votes in favor, ten against, and 29 abstentions. The project has been returned for revision.
"I think we all remember those traditions when, just five years ago, during the most important state holidays of Lithuania, namely February 16, March 11, and others, our largest arenas hosted (Filipp) Kirkorov, (Oleg) Gazmanov, and other performers. I believe that this bill will indeed prevent such individuals from entering Lithuania," said one of the initiators of the project, conservative Vytautas Kiaragis.
According to the project, foreigners who actively support or participate in the activities of a foreign state that violate the principles and norms of international law, and who have engaged in cultural, entertainment, or related activities in Russia, Belarus, or in the territories occupied by them after February 24, 2022, will be banned from entering Lithuania for up to five years.
Currently, such a ban applies to individuals who have committed serious and particularly serious crimes when universally recognized human rights and freedoms have been violated, as well as those involved in corruption and money laundering.
One of the initiators of the amendment was also the mayor of Vilnius, Valdas Benkunskas.
According to him, representatives of the show business working in Russia continue to create a systemic problem for both Vilnius and all of Lithuania four years after the start of the war in Ukraine.
"All recent cases – concerts by rappers Morgenstern and Giyo Pika – show that there is no functioning mechanism to protect Lithuania's informational and cultural space from individuals loyal to the Kremlin regime," the explanatory note states.
The project was criticized by both the Legal Department of the Seimas and the Ministry of Justice. They pointed out that it could contradict European Union (EU) law, which states that a ban on a foreigner's entry into a member state must be based on an individual assessment of the situation and behavior of the foreigner. This ban would also apply to EU citizens.
Furthermore, it is noted that the amendment is related to Russia's war in Ukraine, and therefore is essentially time-limited. The Ministry of Justice proposed to include the specified sanction in the Law on the Establishment of Restrictive Measures in Connection with Military Aggression Against Ukraine.
"It should also be noted that with an automatic entry ban for all individuals falling under a certain category defined in the project, paradoxical situations may arise where entry is prohibited for individuals who have engaged in cultural activities in the specified territories that opposed the ruling regimes of Russia and Belarus," the lawyers of the Seimas indicated.
The BNS agency reported that the mayor of Vilnius, Valdas Benkunskas, has repeatedly raised the issue of the need for a legislative ban on concerts in Lithuania by performers working in Russia and Belarus.
According to him, there is no functioning mechanism to protect Lithuania's informational and cultural space from individuals loyal to the Kremlin regime. Event organizers are interested in profit, so, in the mayor's opinion, legal measures at the national level are necessary to prevent the spread of the "soft power" of hostile states in Lithuania.
The Minister of Culture, social democrat Vaida Aleknavičienė, stated back in February that she supports the idea of restricting performances by artists who perform in Russia and Belarus.
Lithuania has made separate decisions and banned entry to the country for several performers who support Vladimir Putin's regime and have performed in Russia or Crimea. The latest decision was made in February regarding rapper Giyo Pika (real name – Georgiy Dzhioev).
Earlier, the Migration Department included Russian rapper Alisher Morgenstern in the list of undesirable persons, but in mid-April, the Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania overturned this ban.
The court found that the Migration Department unjustifiably relied on information provided by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as the main circumstance when assessing the threat to state security.
By law, such an assessment is conducted by the State Security Department; however, in this case, it did not provide any conclusion, so the decision was based on "data from an incompetent institution."
