Lithuania proposes entry bans for Russian and Belarusian cultural figures who support Russia’s war

Lithuania’s Foreign Ministry has proposed expanding national sanctions against Russian and Belarusian citizens, including entry restrictions for cultural, educational, scientific, sports, arts, and entertainment figures who support Russia’s war against Ukraine. 

The ministry said recent discussions, including at the municipal level, had demonstrated the need to establish clearer rules for the participation of representatives of Russia and Belarus in public activities in Lithuania.

According to the ministry, institutions need a clear legal basis for making timely, consistent, and justified decisions so that public cultural and entertainment activities cannot be used to spread propaganda, distort history, influence Lithuanian society, or turn culture into a political instrument. Lithuania, the ministry added, has a duty to protect its public space from regimes that use culture and entertainment as tools of soft power.

Under the proposal, Russian and Belarusian citizens seeking to enter Lithuania for educational, cultural, or sporting activities would have to sign a public declaration condemning Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. They would also have to affirm their support for the UN Charter and for Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders.

The declaration would be made public, and refusing to sign it would prevent the applicant from entering Lithuania. Russian and Belarusian citizens not covered by the proposed restrictions could continue participating in events as neutral participants, provided they did not represent their countries. Organizers of public events would be responsible for ensuring compliance with the restrictions.

Russian and Belarusian citizens holding Lithuanian residence permits would be prohibited from purchasing property in designated areas near such facilities. Belarusian citizens without Lithuanian residence permits and legal entities owned by them would also be barred from acquiring property there. Restrictions on property purchases by Russian citizens were introduced earlier.

The Foreign Ministry proposed that the amendments take effect on Jan. 1, 2027.

Similar proposals concerning performers from Russia and Belarus and property purchases near strategically important facilities were previously introduced by the opposition Homeland Union-Lithuanian Christian Democrats. They were not adopted because the Lithuanian government has the exclusive authority to initiate national sanctions.

Lithuania’s Law on Restrictive Measures Regarding Military Aggression Against Ukraine has been in force since 2023. The country has also imposed individual entry bans on performers who supported Putin’s government or performed in Russia or Russian-occupied Crimea.

As reported earlier, in February 2022, 12 cultural institutions from Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia called on the Frankfurt, London, and Bologna book fairs to support Ukraine and sever ties with organizations in the Russian Federation. The Frankfurt Book Fair subsequently suspended cooperation with the Russian state institutions responsible for organizing Russia’s collective stand. The appeal’s signatories included the Lithuanian Culture Institute, Lithuanian Publishers Association, Lithuanian Writers’ Union, and Lithuanian section of IBBY, alongside partner organizations from Latvia and Estonia.

Lithuania was also among the countries whose representatives opposed Russia’s participation in the 2026 Venice Biennale. Representatives of Ukraine, Estonia, France, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, Moldova, Poland, and Sweden signed a joint statement after Putin’s cultural envoy announced plans to reopen the Russian pavilion. 

Other Baltic states have also introduced or enforced measures affecting publications originating in Russia and Belarus. On July 23, Latvia’s parliament adopted amendments introducing a national import ban on certain industrial goods originating in the two countries, with books and newspapers among the categories explicitly named in the legislation.

In June 2026, Estonian customs authorities stopped a 1,465-kilogram shipment of printed materials and newspapers traveling from Russia to Finland. Officials found that some of the Russian newspapers contained pro-Russian narratives about the war against Ukraine. Customs blocked the shipment from entering the European Union, noting that publications containing such narratives are prohibited under sanctions.

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