Lithuania may consider blacklisting pro-Kremlin performers

VILNIUS – The Lithuanian Foreign Minister is looking at whether it would be possible to add pro-Kremlin Russian performers to the blacklist of people banned from coming to the county after it emerged that the local organizers of their concerts received subsidies.

"Discussions are underway. Yesterday, we brought together a group of people to evaluate such possibilities from the legal point of view," Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis told reporters on Friday.

He added that the criteria for adding someone to the blacklist "must be very clear and legally justified".

Discussions about widening the blacklist started after it emerged that subsidies for cancelled or postponed events had been allocated to the organizers of shows in Lithuania by Philipp Kirkorov and Mikhail Shufutinsky, both seen as supporters of the Kremlin's policies. 

Earlier on Friday, Culture Minister Simonas Kairys described the situation as a slap in the face, but said the money had been allocated to the organizers due to "the previous faulty subsidization procedure".