International IT and other companies that operated in Russia would not be able to relocate to Lithuania, Economy Minister Ausrine Armonaite said on April 4.
“Although our country’s services ensure extremely thorough checks of every incoming company and person, the continuation of this process in today’s situation is impossible and does not meet the expectations of Lithuanian citizens,” the minister posted on Facebook.
“We are suspending the issuance of new mediation letters to international companies that had their representative offices in Russia,” she added.
According to the minister, several international IT companies were considering moving to Lithuania. Meanwhile, three small international companies had moved to Lithuania as of the end of March, as they already had offices here but were also active in Russia.
No more than 100 people had relocated from Russia, including family members and children, Armonaite said.
“All of them have passed the necessary checks,” she added.
In mid-March, the minister said thousands of IT professionals from Russia and Belarus were planning to come to Lithuania because of the war in Ukraine.
She said that her ministry was working with Russian and Belarusian IT companies that were already present in Lithuania and wanted to move their offices to the country. The ministry was also in talks on the relocation of unnamed Western companies’ units, according to Armonaite.
However, President Gitanas Nauseda’s office has warned that IT companies moving to Lithuania from Russia pose national security risks, claiming that the Russian IT sector is controlled by security services.
Gediminas Grina, a former director of the country’s intelligence service, the State Security Department (VSD), said that finding a potential spy was extremely difficult. (LRT/Business World Magazine)