Lithuania announced on Monday that it would issue temporary identity documents to many Belarusian exiles on its territory after Belarus announced that its citizens would now have to return to the country to renew their documents, AFP reported.

The publication a week ago of a decree signed by President Oleksandr Lukashenko that consulates abroad will no longer issue passports, requiring applicants to return to their “last place of residence” in Belarus to do so, sent chills down the spines of thousands of political expatriates. , especially in neighboring Lithuania.

Opposition leader Svitlana Tikhanovska, who is in exile, called on fellow citizens not to return to Belarus if they face persecution.

The document promised on Monday by Lithuania, a member of the European Union, is a foreigner’s passport intended for people fleeing an authoritarian regime who are unable to renew their documents, the Interior Ministry said.

“The foreign national passport has been valid for many years and is currently limited to one year,” Deputy Interior Minister Arnoldas Abramavičius told AFP.

The ministry said it was considering extending the validity period to three years.

“It is possible to extend the validity period. We intend to present the proposal to the parliament,” Abramavičius added.

According to the ministry, about 60,000 citizens of Belarus currently live in Lithuania.

Tens of thousands of Belarusians have fled their country after the Lukashenko regime, an ally of Vladimir Putin’s Russia, launched a sweeping crackdown on all dissidents following widespread opposition protests.