OREANDA-NEWS  In Lithuania, residents with a second citizenship may be barred from military service. This was reported by the BNS agency with reference to the draft law prepared by the Lithuanian Ministry of Defense and the Seimas (Parliament) Committee on National Security and Defense.

Such persons, the Minister of Defense of the country Laurinas Kasciunas is sure, should not be accepted for military service, and those who took citizenship of Russia, Belarus or China during their service should be dismissed from the army.

The bill clarifies that Russia, Belarus and China threaten Lithuania's national security. Therefore, the document says, ties with these states are a risk factor for military personnel. Before that, the Lithuanian military government had already banned visits to Russia, Belarus and China for non-work purposes.

Earlier, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova called the demolition of the monument to Russian commander Mikhail Barclay de Tolly in Latvia an example of cave Russophobia and the lack of education of the current authorities of the Baltic Republic. She recalled that in the last couple of years alone, about 150 memorials have been destroyed in Latvia.