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In this episode you will hear Ira Hoisa, a Ukrainian DJ and electronic music artist who came to Vilnius as a refugee after her home city of Chernihiv, Ukraine, was attacked by Russia's army; Pavel Kirpikau, a sound designer originally from Baranavichy, Belarus; and Samantha Lippett, artist and curator of independent radio initiatives, originally from London, UK. They all came to Vilnius at different times but made the city their home. The discussion is hosted by Karolis Vyšniauskas, the editor of NARA podcast.

“Chernihiv was bombed at the beginning of the invasion. We were hiding in basements, we didn’t have enough food and life was just not normal. I came here to realize myself as an artist and Vilnius was very welcoming and it gave me a chance to do that,” shares Ira, who also works as a teacher at a Ukrainian school in Vilnius.

“I feel safe in Vilnius, but on the other hand, I don’t feel safe anywhere because you are a person without the ability to go to your home country,” says Pavel, who, like many Belarusians in Vilnius, supported protests against the Lukashenko regime back in 2020. He wouldn't risk to come back to Belarus now.

Lithuanians overwhelmingly supported Belarusian civic society back then, but after two years of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the mood in Lithuania is changing. Some locals, including influential politicians, are seeing Belarusians in Vilnius as possible collaborators with the Minsk regime. And the Minsk regime has stopped renewing passports for Belarusian citizens abroad, including in Lithuania. This left Belarusian exiles in limbo.

“You can’t go to Belarus because you end up in prison and you can’t legally stay anywhere. You’re a kind of not welcomed person who lost the country and is losing identity,” explains Pavel, who came to Vilnius as a student in 2008 and is seeking Lithuanian citizenship.

When Lithuania joined the EU, many Lithuanians went to London to search for better-paying jobs. Samantha Lippet went another direction: she came from London to Vilnius. Staying in the EU after Brexit was one of her reasons for choosing Vilnius as her home.

In the podcast, we discussed how safe Vilnius is now, after two years of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the fear of its escalation. "Vilnius is a resilient place,” shares Samantha commenting on the current mood in the city. “I have to follow the same message as locals and that is – you cannot let Russia scare you. But I stay informed.”

“There was a short period where I moved away and actually around the beginning of the war that was the time I came back. Because I realized how much this place felt like home when I left it so I had to come back and really root myself here,” continues Sam, who is a full-time vilnietė now.

The question of who is a foreigner in Vilnius and who is not, and what factors – the language you speak, the passport you have – decide that, is at the heart of this conversation. Hear it in full at the players above or below.