Ads for a Russian nationality on Facebook could in fact be a recruitment campaign for Kremlin spies, officials have warned.
Posters showing a smiling young woman waving a Russian passport have been popping up on social media in Lithuania.
‘Russian passport – support at every step. Russian citizenship for Russian-speaking Lithuanians. Without the need to renounce Lithuanian citizenship. Repatriation within three to six months’ the ad reads.
It promotes Russian nationality without the need to renounce Lithuanian citizenship -even though dual citizenship is generally not permitted in the country.
These ads may also be used as a recruitment tool for the Russian secret services, Lithuanian institutions have warned.
‘Russia is seeking to identify certain individuals who may be sympathetic to or have some sentiments towards that country to possibly exploit them in the future,’ Vilmantas Vitkauskas, head of the Crisis Management Centre in Lithuania, told broadcaster LRT.
According to the centre, the ads are published by a private Russian firm, the Central Migration Agency.
It issues Russian international passports and runs a so-called repatriation programme approved by the Kremlin.
Lithuanian political analyst Gabriele Burbulyte-Tsiskarishvili said the ad is looking to ‘mislead’ citizens to renounce their nationality.
She said: ‘When accepting citizenship of another country, a citizen of Lithuania must renounce their Lithuanian citizenship (unless there are exceptional circumstances).
‘This has nothing to do with the information in the advertisement because the decision is made by the Lithuanian side; therefore, a person who has become a participant of the repatriate programme and has not renounced citizenship of Lithuania immediately violates the law and it is only a matter of time when it will happen set.’
The analyst added that the ad has been ‘circling’ on social media in Lithuania for awhile.
Officials in Vilnius have urged Lithuanians not to engage or respond to the ads and to report any suspicious activity.
The Lithuanian Foreign Ministry said in a statement it was illegal for the country’s nationals to hold multiple passports, without first securing an exemption.
The decision to take a Russian passport would also ‘expose men to the possibility of being drafted to participate in Russian aggression in Ukraine’, the ministry said.
Lithuania, which was the first Soviet republic to proclaim independence in 1990, has cut ties with Russia – not only diplomatically – since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
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It is one of the Baltic states to have disconnected their electricity systems from Russia’s power grid in February, part of a plan to integrate with the EU and boost security.
The nation is also doing everything to prepare for an invasion by Russia amid stalling talks about a ceasefire in Ukraine.
Lithuania’s government had already reinstated conscription in 2015, but in January, it committed to spending between 5% and 6% of its GDP on defence annually until at least 2030.
Metro has contacted META for a comment.
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