Opposition leaders Svetlana Tikhanovskaya and Roman Protasevich are two who have criticized the regime in Belarus and relocated to neighboring Lithuania.
Martin Uggla, Belarus expert and chairman of the Eastern Group for Democracy and Human Rights, believes that three factors play a role in the choice of Lithuania as a place of refuge.
In addition to the clear geographical connection, it is also about history.
- There is a common history that goes back several centuries to the Lithuanian principality, which included Belarus, he says.
See why many critics of the regime are moving in the clip above.