On Friday, August 1, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania handed a note of protest to the chargé d’affaires of Belarus in Vilnius. The reason was a violation of Lithuania’s airspace — on July 28, an unmanned aerial vehicle illegally flew into the country from the Belarusian side. About this stated in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania in a message on the official Facebook page.
The agency emphasized that it considers the incident as an unfriendly act that violates international law. The Lithuanian side demands an immediate explanation from Minsk regarding the circumstances of the drone intrusion and calls for measures to prevent the recurrence of such violations in the future.
According to the police report, on July 28, an unidentified drone that arrived from the territory of Belarus was recorded in the airspace of Lithuania. After that, the Lithuanian services began an active search for the device, examining several possible crash sites. In the end, the drone was discovered by the military on the territory of the Gaizhyunai training ground in the Jonava district.
We remind you that this is not the first such incident. Over the past month, Lithuanian security forces have recorded unauthorized penetration of drones from the Belarusian side at least twice. On July 10, the airspace of Lithuania was violated by a home-made drone that fell near the closed Shumsk checkpoint. At that time, no threat was detected from his side. And on July 16, border guards shot down another drone, which, according to the investigation, was used to smuggle cigarettes.
The last note of protest was another diplomatic step of Vilnius in response to a disturbing trend. At the same time, it highlights the security threat posed by drones crossing the border from Russia’s ally, the Lukashenka regime.
