"75-year-old Valentina Vatutina, who has lived in
Panevėžys all her life, but has not renounced her Russian citizenship, answered
at the Migration Department that she did not know who owns Crimea, and when
asked what she thought about the conflict in Ukraine, she assured that she was
not interested in politics.
The Departments of Migration and State Security stated that
this elderly woman poses a threat to national security and can no longer live
in Lithuania.
V. Vatutina, who appealed this decision to the court,
recently received another unpleasant news. According to officials, V. Vatutina
may be used as a potential recruitment target by Russian power structures. With
the help of this Panevėžys, it is possible to collect information necessary to
carry out operations of structures of a hostile state power.
While crying, V. Vatutina asserts that she loves her native
Lithuania.
Felt watched
V. Vatutina is known by many residents of Panevėžys as the
former head of the Russian cultural center that operated in the capital of
Aukštaitija. Its now former chairperson says that she does not remember when
exactly it was founded, but she knows well that the center began its activities
in the Soviet era, at the then 3rd secondary school, which has now become the
"Vilties" pro-gymnasium. At that time it was a Russian-speaking
school.
"When the 3rd secondary school, which I myself
graduated from, became a Lithuanian school with Russian classes, and my
troubles began," consoles V. Vatutina.
The senior woman says that after the change in the status of
the school, she began to question why the educational institution deleted all
the notes in Russian. According to V. Vatutina, the Russian-speaking
first-graders who came to school could not understand the Lithuanian notes. She
raised the issue of the deleted Russian notes not only to the school community,
but also at a conference for representatives of national minorities.
"It ended with the fact that the Russian cultural
center, which I lead, was ordered to move out of the 3rd secondary school, and
I was summoned by the officers of the Lithuanian KGB (State Security Department
- official post). They started asking about my views", says V. Vatutina.
Having lost its premises in the school, the Russian Cultural
Center was allowed to settle in other premises belonging to the City
Municipality on Topolių aleja, where the Education Department was operating at
that time.
V. Vatutina admits: State Security Department officials
periodically visited her in that center. The elderly woman thinks that they
used to talk about Lithuania, Russia, and the relations between these
countries.
The Russian Cultural Center officially ceased to exist five
years ago, but it still occupied the premises. The former head of this center,
V. Vatutina, recalled an unfortunate event when,
a Ukrainian conflict refugee invited to the center saw a portrait of V. Putin in the
premises.
When the scandal arose, V. Vatutina made an excuse that she
simply did not have time to throw it away.
The Panevėžy resident claims to have been visited again by
officials of the Department of State Security.
"There was also such a case when I received a greeting
from a former student on the Internet on the occasion of May 9 - Victory Day
over Nazi Germany. She created the greeting using my photo, and the red flag of
Soviet Russia was flying behind it, and the symbols - hammer and sickle - were
visible. That flag was installed by the pupil, I really did not take a picture
next to it", assures V. Vatutina.
The woman says that even after this greeting she had to
explain herself to state officials.
"I've gotten used to those surveys, I've come to terms
with the fact that it's necessary," says the woman.
However, her interviews came to an end last summer, when V.
Vatutina had to process documents for the extension of her residence permit in
Lithuania.
She answered in Russian
Although V. Vatutina was born in Panevėžys, grew up and
worked here, and had a son with a Lithuanian husband in this city, she is not a
citizen of Lithuania, but of Russia.
The woman explains that after Lithuania separated from
Russia, she could choose one of these two citizenships. She chose Russia
because her only son was studying in Russia at that time. V. Vatutina decided
that after choosing Russian citizenship, it will be easier to visit him.
As a Russian citizen, V. Vatutina was granted a permanent
residence permit in Lithuania with the obligation to extend this permit.
The deadline for such an extension expired last summer, so
V. Vatutina applied to the Migration Department.
"There they handed me a questionnaire with a lot of
questions. I asked how to answer them - in Lithuanian or Russian, I explained
that I write Russian perfectly, Lithuanian - with mistakes. I was allowed to
choose, so I answered in Russian. I think that's also why I drew
suspicions", says V. Vatutina.
Among many questions, she had to answer who owns Crimea,
what she thinks about the conflict in Ukraine.
To the question about Crimea, the elderly woman says she
answered "I don't know". And she claims that at that time she really
did not know how the Crimean peninsula was divided during the conflict.
In place, where she was asked about the conflict in Ukraine, she
says she recorded that she is not interested in politics.
"After some time, I received a response from the
Migration Department that my residence permit in Lithuania is not being
extended because I pose a threat to the national security”, cries V. Vatutina.
Homeless in old age
After seeking a lawyer, V. Vatutina appealed the decision
not to extend her residence permit in Lithuania to the Vilnius Chamber of the
Regional Administrative Court.
And the day before yesterday, the elderly woman received a
decision - her complaint was rejected.
"And what bad did I do to Lithuania? Is it the fact
that I studied pedagogical sciences in Russia, or that I worked there for a
year after graduating? After returning to Panevėžys, I worked in a
nursery-kindergarten, raised children, after that I had to work as a
seamstress. I managed the Russian cultural center, collected local history
material, searched the Orthodox cemeteries for the graves of the parents of
Lithuanian director Boris Dauguvietis, Lithuanian language teacher Zacharijaus
Liackis, and hospital nurse Zinaida Kanevičienė, a victim of Stalinism. In
Anykščiai district, Surdegiai, in a building that otherwise belonged to Orthodox
monks, I held exhibitions of my own works," V. Vatutina says.
The elderly woman says that she grew up in a single-parent
family, so she only has her mother's grave in Lithuania, and she intended to
lay her down next to her. She lives in Kosmonautų Street in the apartment left
by her mother.
" I, a heart patient who survived a heart attack, will to have to leave not only my mother's grave, but also my apartment?"
What is waiting for me, old woman?" - cries the woman.
Can be used by hostile forces
The three-judge panel of the Regional Administrative Court,
having examined the case based on V. Vatutina's complaint, made a decision on
February 8 to reject it on behalf of the Republic of Lithuania. This means that
V. Vatutina is no longer granted the right to live in Lithuania as a threat to
national security.
The court assessed the answers of the Panevežys resident to
the Migration Department's questionnaire, when she did not directly answer who
owns Crimea and how she assesses the conflict started by Russia in Ukraine.
This position of hers was described as evasion.
The photo on her personal account with the USSR flag in the
background was also evaluated, as well as her expressed dissatisfaction with
the monuments removed from the cemetery of the victims of the Second World War
in Panevėžys.
According to the court, the material collected by the
Department of State Security indicates that the applicant supports the
aggressive foreign policy of the Russian Federation, which poses a threat to
the national security of Lithuania.
It is also recognized that V. Vatutina is loyal to the
regime of the Russian Federation. It was decided that this woman could be used
by the Russian state institutions or intelligence services, carrying out
activities directed against Lithuania.
This court decision is not yet final. It can be appealed to
a higher instance - the Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania."
Run while you can.
If you get sick or old, these beasts will destroy you. If they will not find other means, they will at least force you to starve to death.
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