{"id":127749,"date":"2025-02-25T22:25:20","date_gmt":"2025-02-25T19:25:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/127749\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T20:40:57","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T20:40:57","slug":"lithuanian-public-figures-urge-ban-on-pahonia-symbol-for-new-belarus-passport","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/127749\/","title":{"rendered":"Lithuanian public figures call for ban on Pahonia for New Belarus Passport"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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February 25, Pozirk<\/em>. <\/strong>The Belarusian opposition\u2019s plan to launch an ID has taken another blow as 70 Lithuanian public figures demanded a ban on the Pahonia coat of arms because of its similarity with Lithuania\u2019s Vytis state symbol, LRT<\/em> reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regardless of the name, Vytis and Pahonia are the same, said the letter to the foreign ministry and the Seimas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The signatories include TV host and actor Algis Ramanauskas, journalist \u0160ar\u016bnas Jasiukevi\u010dius, Friends of Ukraine foundation head Valdas Bartkevi\u010dius and historian Ar\u016bnas Bubnys, head of the Genocide and Resistance Research Center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On January 19, Lithuanian President Gitanas Naus\u0117da said the similarity between Vytis and Pahonia should not be exaggerated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Belarusian opposition put the ID project on hold earlier this year to sort out legal issues and complete GDPR compliance, Marius Gudelaitis, director of the Belarusian Passport Center, told Pozirk<\/em> on February 4.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On February 22, the Rada of the Belarusian National Republic (BNR) hit back at critics of Pahonia, dismissing the debate as \u201cridiculous and unfounded.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pahonia was the symbol of the BNR, the first independent state of Belarus whose exiled government used it in Lithuania in the early 1920s, it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was also the official emblem of Belarus from 1991 to 1995, until Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka held a referendum to replace it with a Soviet-style symbol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The BNR Rada said that any attempt to ban Belarusians from using Pahonia (or Lithuanians from using Vytis) is an infringement on the Belarusians\u2019 (Lithuanians\u2019) right to self-determination and a manifestation of solidarity with the \u201cBelarusophobic \u0141uka\u0161enka regime and the imperialist [Vladimir] Putin regime.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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