Lithuania will scrap the option to sit the driving theory exam in Russian from 1 January 2026, the Interior Ministry has confirmed, bringing to a close more than a year of political debate and mixed public reactions over the move. From that date, candidates will only be able to take the theoretical test in Lithuanian or in one of several official EU languages.
The change stems from an order signed in December 2024 by then–interior minister Agnė Bilotaitė, a conservative, who argued that the state should limit official use of Russian in public services and align more closely with European language norms. Her decree stipulated that from 2025 the theory exam would be available solely in Lithuanian and official EU languages, which meant dropping Russian even though it remains the native tongue of Lithuania’s second-largest ethnic minority.
When the new government took office, Bilotaitė’s successor, Social Democrat Vladislav Kondratovič, delayed the reform by a year. He cited the need to give the vehicle-registration agency Regitra and private driving schools more time to adapt materials and IT systems and called for “deeper discussions” about the social consequences. That reprieve is now over. With less than a month remaining, the Interior Ministry has confirmed that the reform will come into force as written. In a statement to LRT.lt, officials said that preparations were complete and that the exam would from 2026 be conducted “exactly as planned”. At present, candidates can choose between Lithuanian, English and Russian.
Driving schools, which sit at the frontline of the change, report that there has been no dramatic rush of Russian-speaking students trying to take the test before the cut-off date. Some even question whether the restriction is necessary at all. Edvardas Jogėla, head of the Laukininkų VM school, described the ban on Russian in driving exams as exaggerated and argued that the real policy priority should be road safety, not language. He said that his school had seen only a modest increase in demand from Russian-speaking learners.
A similar picture emerged at ARV-Auto, where director Valdas Šlepikas said the school is contacted by around 40 Russian-speaking clients each month. When Bilotaitė’s decision first became public, he recalled, there was a noticeable spike in anxiety and questions from learners worried about losing access to the Russian-language exam. After the one-year postponement, however, interest settled down and only a small “last-chance” wave of bookings could be detected in recent months.
The Interior Ministry, for its part, stresses that the reform is not simply about taking one language away but also about expanding access to others. Regitra will continue to offer the theory exam in English and is preparing to add Spanish, French and Polish to the list of available options. These new language versions are currently being tested and integrated into the agency’s systems. For the practical driving test, candidates will still be allowed to use interpreters in any official EU language, a flexibility that the ministry presents as evidence that the system remains inclusive while prioritising European languages over Russian.
Statistics show that Russian-language exams represent a minority but still substantial share of all tests. Last year, 13,378 theory exams were taken in Russian, accounting for 9.7 percent of the total. By mid-November this year, the number of attempts in Russian had already reached 14,470, up from 10,961 over the same period in 2024. The increase suggests that some learners have indeed tried to take advantage of the last year in which Russian remains an option, even if driving schools do not perceive it as a massive surge.
Behind the technical details lies a broader debate about identity, integration and the place of the Russian language in Lithuanian public life, especially after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Supporters of the reform argue that official services should prioritise Lithuanian and other EU languages and that encouraging younger generations of Russian-speakers to function in those languages strengthens social cohesion and Western orientation. Critics counter that removing Russian from a practical context like a driving exam risks marginalising part of the population, particularly older citizens or recent arrivals who may not yet have strong Lithuanian or EU-language skills.
Kondratovič’s decision to uphold the reform after a one-year delay reflects this tension. As a Russian-speaking politician from a centre-left party, he has been more cautious than his predecessor, but he ultimately endorsed the shift to a system centred on Lithuanian and a broader palette of EU languages. The ministry’s current messaging focuses less on cultural symbolism and more on administrative readiness and the claim that candidates will still have multiple realistic options in which to take the exam.
From 2026 onwards, anyone planning to obtain a driving licence in Lithuania will therefore have to adapt. For most residents, this will mean sitting the test in Lithuanian as before. For others, especially younger Russian-speakers who have studied foreign languages, it may mean choosing English, Polish, Spanish or French. For those with limited language skills, the reform could pose a more serious hurdle, one that driving schools and community organisations will have to help them navigate.
In the end, the decision to phase out Russian from the theory exam is more than a bureaucratic adjustment. It is one element in a wider reorientation of the linguistic landscape of the Lithuanian state, signalling that where alternatives exist, the default will be Lithuanian and EU languages rather than the language of a former imperial power. How smoothly the transition unfolds in exam halls across the country in 2026 will be an early test of how that policy plays out in everyday life.
