Armed Belarusian border guards crossed the border without warning and entered the territory of Lithuania. The Lithuanian State Border Guard Service called the incident a deliberate provocation, and the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry handed a note of protest to the Charge d'Affaires of Belarus, UNN reports.
On January 23, the Charge d'Affaires of Belarus in Lithuania received a note from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressing a strong protest against repeated violations of the state border of the Republic of Lithuania.
Details
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on Monday, January 22, at 11:36 a.m., three armed Belarusian officers violated the border, went about 2.5 meters deep into the Republic of Lithuania and, after walking about 400 meters, returned to the territory of the Republic of Belarus. This happened in the area of the Pushkai border checkpoint of the Vilnius border detachment.
Employees of the Lithuanian border crossing point recorded through the surveillance system how Belarusian border guards were patrolling the snowy area on their side, but headed for the patrol bridge. After some hesitation, the agency notes, the officers of the neighboring country did not continue their route across the bridge, which is covered with bushes, but turned left and crossed the border.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania demands that the Republic of Belarus provide explanations for this incident as soon as possible and take all necessary measures to prevent the recurrence of such incidents in the future.
The Lithuanian Border Guard Service is considering whether to initiate a pre-trial investigation into the illegal crossing of the state border. Lithuania has already appealed to the border guard agency of Belarus.