Lithuania Denies Belarus’s Allegations of Drone Crossing and Flag Scattering

Lithuania has rejected Belarus’s accusations that a Lithuanian drone allegedly crossed the border and dropped white-red-white flags.

LRT reported the incident.

Lithuanian Defense Minister Robertas Kaunas called the Belarusian claims ‘fake news.’

“We are not responding to this specifically; we are not paying much attention to it, because it is fake news […] and interpretations from an unfriendly country, and there is probably no point in replying to all of them,” the Minister told journalists on Tuesday in the Seimas.

His comments came after Minsk lodged an official protest with Vilnius over what it claimed was a drone that entered Belarusian airspace at the end of November.

The Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the aircraft allegedly took off from Lithuania’s Lazdijai District and violated Belarusian airspace before crashing in the city of Hrodna on November 30.

In addition, the Belarusian police claimed that the drone scattered small white-red-white paper flags, which today are a symbol of citizens’ opposition to Alexander Lukashenko’s regime. Minsk called the incident a deliberate provocation.

After this, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned Erikas Vilkanečas, Lithuania’s chargé d’affaires ad interim, and lodged an official protest with him.

Minsk demanded that Lithuania ‘immediately provide comprehensive information about the circumstances of this incident, including the purpose of launching the drone and its operator.’ It also called for a thorough investigation and for measures to prevent similar incidents in the future.

Darius Buta, spokesperson for Lithuania’s National Crisis Management Centre, declined to comment on whether an airspace violation had occurred, saying that ‘this is not the first time the Belarusian regime has fabricated various stories and made accusations against Western countries and Lithuania.’

Belarusian state media reported that the drone’s wingspan was 1.5 meters and its length 91 cm. The blades bore markings reading Aeronaut Camz Carbon and listed the German manufacturer’s website, aeronaut.de.

It was reported that the drone contained navigation equipment, a video camera, and two 32-gigabyte memory cards.