Selective Application of Security Criteria and the Suspension of Belarusian Naturalization in Lithuania (2019–2024)

2019–2024 data show Lithuania froze Belarusian naturalization—betraying the “safe haven” pledge and institutionalizing persecution on the basis of nationality.

1. Introduction

In 2020–2021, Lithuania publicly declared its readiness to become a “haven for Belarusians fleeing the Lukashenko regime.” However, the official statistical data of the Lithuanian Migration Department, the Ministry of the Interior, and the European Migration Network (EMN) show the opposite trend: by 2023, the naturalization of Belarusians had effectively ceased, while administrative filters based on the alleged “threat to national security” had become systemic.

This report documents the rollback of procedures for granting citizenship to citizens of Belarus in Lithuania, accompanied by securitizing rhetoric and the discriminatory use of notions such as “national threat” and “disloyalty.”

2. Empirical Basis

The data are drawn from official sources:

• Migration Yearbooks 2019–2024 (Lithuanian Migration Department);¹
• MM 2024 EN (English version of the 2024 Annual Report);²
• yearbook2023.pdf (original 2023 report);³
• Analytical reports by OSW (Ośrodek Studiów Wschodnich, 2024);
• EMN Lithuania (European Migration Network, reports for 2021–2024).

3. Naturalization Statistics of Belarusian Citizens ⁴⁵

3.1. Ordinary Procedure (Naturalization)

3.2. Simplified Procedure (for Persons of Lithuanian Origin or Special Status)

3.3. Overall Dynamics

Over the six-year period (2019–2024), only 141 Belarusian citizens obtained Lithuanian citizenship in total. The peak year was 2021 (67 cases), followed by a sharp decline. By 2023, only 4 people received citizenship, and in 2024 — none.

4. Analytical Interpretation

4.1. 2019–2021: Window of Trust

The increase in the number of naturalized persons in 2019–2021 coincides with the wave of post-election emigration and the public statements of the Lithuanian authorities about “support for democratic Belarus.” During this period, the standard verification procedure was applied without a strict security filter.

4.2. 2022–2024: Securitization and Institutional Closure

After 2022 — the period of war and tightened control — Belarusian citizens increasingly began to be classified as “potentially risky.” The State Security Department (VSD) and the Ministry of the Interior began issuing “national security threat conclusions” without mandatory disclosure of the evidentiary basis.

Since 2023, applications from Belarusians have in fact ceased to be considered:

• the number of citizenship decisions has dropped to single cases;
• applications are rejected at the verification stage, without the possibility of appeal;
• the practice of retroactive checks of already naturalized persons has intensified.

4.3. Political and Administrative Context

In public comments, Lithuanian officials (including Evelina Gudzinskaite, head of the Migration Department) began linking the ethnic origin of Belarusians with “possible loyalty to hostile regimes” and “risks of agent infiltration.” Such statements transformed the humanitarian discourse into the rhetoric of threat.

At the same time, there are no official court cases or criminal proceedings publicly registered against Belarusian citizens in Lithuania on charges of acting “in favor of Belarus or Russia” (espionage, agent activity).

Despite the extensive rhetoric of the Lithuanian authorities linking Belarusians to a national security threat, no such public criminal cases exist (in open sources).

That is, the “presumption of a national security threat” applied to Belarusians based on their country of citizenship is an instrumental and politicized category that conceals systemic discrimination behind a façade of security, stigmatizes Belarusians in Lithuania, and reduces its visibility within the European human rights field.

Human Rights Assessment:

• The use of the vague criterion of “potential security threat” against an entire national group is manipulative and overtly discriminatory, indicating the misuse of a legal category for disproportionate purposes.

• The lack of procedural transparency violates Articles 6 and 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights (right to a fair trial and prohibition of discrimination).

• The politicization of naturalization contradicts Article 4 of the European Convention on Nationality (1997), which guarantees the individual nature of assessment.

5. Legal and Humanitarian Consequences

1. The suspension of naturalization effectively excludes Belarusians from the category of long-term residents, leaving them in a state of administrative vulnerability.
2. The principle of “individual assessment” has been replaced by a presumption of threat — Belarusian origin itself has become a marker of risk.
3. The selective application of the security criterion entrenches a discriminatory approach and undermines Belarusians’ trust in EU protection institutions.
4. The denial of naturalization to Belarusians increases the risk of secondary re-emigration — Belarusians are forced to seek more predictable EU countries (Poland, Germany, Czech Republic).

6. Conclusion

The sharp decline in the number of Belarusians who obtained Lithuanian citizenship after 2022 reflects the institutional transformation of humanitarian policy into a system of administrative exclusion. Under the slogan of “protecting national security,” a securitizing, manipulative, and discriminatory practice is being implemented — one that contradicts the spirit of international law and Lithuania’s public commitments as a democratic EU state. Simultaneously, rhetorical securitization is observed — reflecting the transfer of the political language of threats into the administrative sphere.

1 https://migracija.lrv.lt/lt/statistika/migracijos-metrasciai/

2 https://migracija.lrv.lt/public/canonical/1750415285/1331/MM%202024%20EN.pdf

3 https://migracija.lrv.lt/public/canonical/1724756643/856/yearbook2023.pdf

4 https://migracija.lrv.lt/uploads/migracija/documents/files/Migracijos%20metra%C5%A1%C4%8Diai/MIGRACIJOS%20METRA%C5%A0TIS_2019%20(1).pdf

5 https://migracija.lrv.lt/pubBelarusianBelarusianlic/canonical/1750415196/1330/MM%202024%20LT.pdf

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Darko Kalinowski

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