Lithuania open to IT companies from Russia and Belarus

Lithuanian Economy Minister Aušrinė Armonaitė has stated that companies and a large number of workers in Russia and Belarus are looking for ways to move to Lithuania. This activity is especially visible in the sector of information technologies, Lithuanian public broadcaster LRT and journalist Irma Janauskaitė report.
Since 2021, the Imaguru start-up hub has been operating in Vilnius. It relocated from Belarus amid Minsk’s crackdown on the opposition. Formerly the largest start-up hub in Belarus, it is now expanding in Lithuania.
«There is a huge dynamic, because on the one hand there is a second wave of emigration from Belarus. On the other hand, there is a wave of emigration from Ukraine and other countries from which people are now moving. We are growing very fast,» says co-founder Anastasia Khamenkova.
The Belarusian company, which develops games for mobile phones, is now looking to relocate its branches from Belarus and Russia to Lithuania. The company’s CEO says that businesses and people are fleeing the regime’s political oppression, for economic reasons, or because they do not support the war Russia has started in Ukraine.
«The reasons are complex. Obviously, the events of the last 3-4 weeks, and also the sanctions that have followed. We are moving towards accepting the fact that the IT business in Belarus or Russia, especially the international IT business, will simply not be able to exist,» says Albertas Pocevičius, head of Belka Games Lithuanian division.
The Startup Centre in Lithuania helps to make connections and acts as a mentor.
Thousands of people from Russia and Belarus could come to Lithuania in the near future, prediced Economy Minister Aušrinė Armonaitė.
«We are working with two groups of companies. First, those companies that are already established here in Lithuania and that still have branches there [in Russia or Belarus] and want to relocate employees and family members. We are also talking to international companies that may want to move their operations from other capital cities to Vilnius,» says Armonaitė.
The article originally appeared on LRT English: https://www.lrt.lt/en/news-in-english/19/1649971/lithuania-looks-to-attract-it-workers-fleeing-russia-and-belarus