MOSCOW/VILNIUS, Dec 1 (Reuters) – Belarus, a close ally of Russia, and European Union member Lithuania exchanged diplomatic barbs and issued official protests on Monday, with each side accusing the other of airspace violations.
Belarus, which allowed its territory to be used for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, accused Lithuania of deploying a drone to spy on it and drop “extremist material,” a charge Vilnius rejected as false.
Lithuania complained to the EU after Vilnius airport said on Sunday it was forced to halt flights due to suspected balloons in Lithuanian airspace, the latest in a series of flight disruptions in the Baltic nation.
Lithuania has said weather balloons flown by smugglers are transporting contraband cigarettes and blames Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko for allowing the practice.
The Belarusian Interior Ministry accused Lithuania of being behind the purported drone incident and Lithuania’s charge d’
affaires was called in to the Foreign Ministry in Minsk.
BELARUS ACCUSES LITHUANIA OVER DRONE
“Yesterday, a UAV (drone) of unknown origin was found on one of the streets of Grodno,” it said, referring to the city of some 360,000 in western Belarus.
“During the inspection by the police, it was found that the drone is equipped with a photo and video camera with the ability to collect intelligence data. In addition, extremist printed materials were dropped from the drone.”
The ministry published photographs of a small drone lying on the pavement. Small white-red-white flags, which are widely used as symbols of opposition to Lukashenko, were next to the drone.
Specialists had determined that the drone was launched from Kapciamiestis, a village in Lithuania near the borders with Belarus and Poland, the ministry said.
In Vilnius, Lithuania’s foreign ministry spokesperson said the EU’s diplomatic service had earlier summoned the Belarusian representative in Brussels and called for “a stop of hybrid attacks against EU countries”.
EU CONDEMNS ‘HYBRID ATTACKS’
The head of the EU’s European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said on media platform X that the situation at the border was “worsening” with growing numbers of balloon incursions.
“Such hybrid attack by the Lukashenko regime is completely unacceptable,” she wrote.
A spokesperson for Lithuania’s National Crisis Management Centre denied Vilnius had sent the drone to spy on Belarus.
“It is not the first time the Belarusian regime is inventing stories and hurling accusations at Western countries and Lithuania,” the spokesperson told Reuters.
Relations between Lithuania and Belarus have been strained for years over accusations that Lukashenko has provoked border incidents and allegations of human rights abuses in Belarus.
(Reporting by Maxim Rodionov in London and Andrius Sytas in Vilnius; Writing by Gleb Stolyarov/Lucy Papachristou; Editing by Andrew Osborn, Ron Popeski and Bill Berkrot)
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