In Lithuania, citizens of Russia and Belarus received over a million euros in aid for Ukrainians

The European Union’s support for Ukrainian refugees from the war in Lithuania has also been extended to citizens of Russia and Belarus. The amount of money involved is over a million euros.

LRT wrote about it.

The Ministry of Social Protection and Labor launched an internal audit, and the European Social Fund Agency (ESFA), which oversaw the project, fired the manager for negligence. In an attempt to justify itself, the agency claims that the rules of those years allowed it to provide assistance to non-Ukrainians.

Ukrainian refugees in Lithuania are supported not only with food, hygiene products, medicines, and legal services, but also have the opportunity to learn Lithuanian and receive employment subsidies.

The European Union supports the integration of Ukrainians in EU countries, so in 2022-2023, almost €17 million was allocated for the project “Assistance to War Refugees from Ukraine”.

However, it turned out that the assistance intended for Ukrainians was also received by citizens of Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and other countries with residence permits in Lithuania.

In total, 813 non-Ukrainians from 43 different countries received such assistance, including Lithuanian language courses and employment subsidies.

In total, it is an unlawful expenditure of one million euros. The Seimas Audit Committee was informed of the audit results last week. The Auditor General’s Office is demanding a refund.

However, the agency itself rejects the criticism and says that the provision of assistance to non-Ukrainians was allowed by the regulations of the time. In addition, they emphasize that only 484 people received support by mistake.

“The situation arose because of the interpretation of the then existing documents. According to them, socially vulnerable people, not necessarily from Ukraine, could participate in additional measures such as Lithuanian language courses and subsidized employment,” said Jolita Piatraitienė, Head of Project Development at ESFA.

Nevertheless, the Lithuanian Ministry of Social Protection confirmed that the project implementer, the Lithuanian Employment Service, will be obliged to return the funds within a certain period of time.