On 13 January, Tučkutė flew to Moscow to attend the Gaidar Forum, but was detained at the International Airport of Vnukov in the Russian capital.
“At the passport control, I was asked to wait. Finally, I was asked to sign a document saying I am being banned from entering Russia for five years. When I asked them to specify the reasons, they couldn’t,” Tučkutė told a Vilnius news conference on Friday.
In her words, she has never made critical remarks about Russia in the media and always tries to provide a fair analysis of the situation in the country.
“I don’t think my participation in the forum is the reason. However, it could have to do with internal lists (of personae non gratae) aimed at stopping the arrival of experts,” said Tučkutė.
In her words, such incidents show Russia is becoming an increasingly closed country.
Lithuania has a list of foreigners who are not welcome in the country. Based on the list, Russian citizen Alexander Diukov was not allowed to enter Lithuania last year.
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