Category: news
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Migration Review (October 23–27)
“Exiles” is a Russian-speaking community of lawyers defending migrants in Europe. If you need help, write to our direct messages or email.
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Worked at a factory, became a threat: why Russians and Belarusians are being expelled from Lithuania
We at “Exiles” have long been saying that Lithuania is declaring Belarusian citizens a threat to national security en masse. The reason for such a decision is often work at a Belarusian state enterprise or compulsory military service. Lithuania’s migration authorities are convinced that such people are loyal to Lukashenko’s regime and may be recruited…
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An “Exiles” lawyer on a criminal case over two light bulbs in a parcel
According to Echo, the Munich prosecutor’s office opened an investigation against a Russian citizen. He was suspected of violating sanctions. The cause was a parcel from Russia containing two smart light bulbs. “You allegedly ordered goods from the Russian Federation, knowing that these goods are subject to an import embargo and, consequently, to sanctions. The…
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Migration Review (October 20–23)
“Exiles” is a Russian-speaking community of lawyers defending migrants in Europe. If you need help, write to our direct messages or email.
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Lithuania refused a Ukrainian woman a humanitarian residence permit, citing the absence of risks to her life in her homeland
Lawyer and “Exiles” founder Mikhail Benyash is defending a Ukrainian citizen who lived in Belarus from the age of 14. There she took an active part in the 2020 protests and worked as a photographer for a publication that Lukashenko’s regime designated “extremist.” In 2025 she began to be summoned for interrogations, so she was…
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An “Exiles” lawyer secured a re-examination of an asylum application
Lithuania’s Regional Administrative Court has overturned a Migration Department decision in which officials refused asylum to a Georgian citizen, ordering him expelled from the country and banned from entering the Schengen area for three years. The man is persecuted in Georgia for participating in Mikheil Saakashvili’s opposition party and for being LGBT. At home, law…
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An “Exiles” lawyer on the “national security threat” mechanism as a tool of political reprisal
Today Lithuania’s Interior Minister Martynas Katelynas stated that he does not intend to put up with a situation in which the country cannot expel people who “pose a threat to its security.” As an example, Katelynas cited Olga Karach, a human rights defender from Belarus who was sentenced there to 12 years on a number…
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Migration Review (October 13–16)
“Exiles” is a Russian-speaking community of lawyers defending migrants in Europe. If you need help, write to our direct messages or email
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Lithuania’s Sate Security Department explained why it treats work experience at Belarusian state enterprises as a threat factor
As a reminder, Lithuania is declaring Belarusian citizens a threat to national security en masse and expelling them from the country. A frequent ground for such a decision is the fact of having worked at a Belarusian state enterprise. The media outlet Belsat reached out to Lithuania’s State Security Department (VSD) on this matter. Journalists…