Children of Russian oligarch Abramovich have Lithuanian passports

The Interior ministry confirmed the findings of a Lithuanian investigative journalism centre which collaborated with an international investigation.

Transcript

00:00 Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich's children have Lithuanian passports, say officials.

00:07 The Interior Ministry have confirmed the findings of an investigative journalism center,

00:11 which said at least two of his children have citizenship due to his grandparents.

00:17 The Interior Ministry emphasized that Lithuanian passports must not be used as a cover to circumvent sanctions.

00:24 As I mentioned, we are in accordance with the Constitution, that in a situation of security,

00:31 such passports could not be used.

00:36 Because a passport has a lot of rights and can be used in various ways.

00:45 Since we probably learned that Russia is turning the way,

00:49 and these people are directly connected to Putin, not with anything else,

00:55 but with Putin.

00:58 So, this is a very serious national security problem.

01:03 Earlier this year, an investigation found out that just before Russia's invasion of Ukraine,

01:08 after which sanctions were imposed on Abramovich himself,

01:11 the Russian oligarch transferred part of his assets to his children.

01:16 [speaking foreign language]