Belarus has not curbed the activities of smugglers who are disrupting air traffic in Lithuania, and on the 1st of December, Russia’s ally Belarus and European Union member Lithuania issued official diplomatic protests to each other, Reuters reports.
Belarus, which in 2022 allowed Russia to use its territory to launch a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, has protested and accused Lithuania of using drones to spy and distribute “extremist materials.” Vilnius has rejected the accusations as false.
Flights at Vilnius airport had to be suspended again on the 30th of November after weather balloons used by smugglers to transport cigarettes were again detected in Lithuanian airspace from Belarus. Lithuania has filed a complaint with the European Union about this, and blames the leader of the neighboring country, Alexander Lukashenko, for turning a blind eye to illegal activities. Meanwhile, the Belarusians have summoned the Lithuanian diplomatic representative to the Foreign Ministry in Minsk to complain about an alleged incident with a drone.
The Belarusian Foreign Ministry has announced that a drone of unknown origin has been found in the western city of Grodno. When the police examined the drone, they discovered that it was equipped with photo and video cameras, which allowed it to collect intelligence data. The drone was also said to have dropped “extremist” materials. The ministry has published photographs showing a small drone, next to it white-red-white flags, which are widely known as a symbol of the Belarusian opposition. Experts have concluded that
the drone was launched from a small village near Lithuania’s border with Poland and Belarus.
A representative of the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry informed that the EU diplomatic service in Brussels has summoned the Belarusian representative for talks and called for an end to hybrid attacks on EU countries.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen noted on the X that the situation is worsening, and smugglers’ balloons are being observed more and more often. She stressed that such hybrid attacks supported by the Lukashenko regime are completely unacceptable.
A representative of the Lithuanian National Crisis Management Center denied that Vilnius had sent a drone to Belarus, and added that this is not the first time that the Minsk regime has been making up stories and making accusations against Western countries and Lithuania.
Relations between the two countries have been tense for a long time, and the Lukashenko regime is considered responsible for causing the migration crisis and committing human rights violations.
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