Tuesday marks exactly one year since the Baltic countries and Poland introduced entry restrictions for Russian nationals. More than 1,300 people have since been refused entry to Lithuania, data from the State Border Guard Service (VSAT) shows.
Some 496,666 Russian citizens have entered Lithuania between September 19, 2022, and September 18 this year. Most of them – 326,859 – did so for transit reasons.
Lithuania allowed 169,807 Russians who were not in transit to enter during the period. These were people exempt from restrictions, namely those who have residence permits in Lithuania or in any other EU country, family members of EU citizens, truck drivers, and holders of long-stay national visas.
Moreover, 40 citizens of Lithuanian origin came to Lithuania from Russia during that time.
“The number of tourists has dropped, and it’s almost half of what it used to be,” VSAT spokesperson Giedrius Mišutis told BNS.
In total, 1,343 Russian citizens have been turned back at the Lithuanian border over the past 12 months, he said.
The number of people who were not allowed to enter was higher last year when border guards had to turn away 10 or 20 people a day, but recently, there have been only a few such cases, according to Mišutis.
Lithuanian border guards have information that 426,000 Russian citizens have been let in by Estonian officers over the past 12 months and 2,168 have been banned from entering the country. In Latvia, more than 81,000 Russians have been admitted over the past 12 months and 1,093 have been refused entry.
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