The department previously did not specify when two of Abramovich’s children were granted Lithuanian citizenship as it cited the General Data Protection Regulation. However, the decision was successfully challenged by the investigative journalism centre Siena.
Arkadiy and Anna Abramovich obtained Lithuanian passports on the grounds of origin as grandparents of Roman Abramovich had Lithuanian citizenship.
According to the Migration Department, Anna was granted Lithuanian citizenship in October 2011 and the passport was renewed in May 2021.
Whereas Arkadiy’s Lithuanian citizenship was restored in 2013 and the relevant decree was signed in the last weeks of office of then interior minister Dailis Alfonsas Barakauskas. His passport was renewed in October 2023, one and a half years after Roman Abramovich was included on the EU sanctions list. It was also known at the time that the Russian billionaire had already transferred the control of his trust funds to his children.
According to the Migration Department, Abramovich’s three other children – Sofia, Arina and Ilya – do not have Lithuanian passports. It also noted that Roman Abramovich has the right to have Lithuanian citizenship restored but has not exercised it.
Information about the billionaire’s children having Lithuanian passports emerged amid the Cyprus Confidential investigation, as photocopies of the passports were discovered among the leaked documents. It is believed that the Lithuanian passports were used to evade international sanctions imposed on Abramovich.