Belarus accuses Lithuania of alleged drone attack on capital, says it ‘wants to call on NATO to deploy troops’

The head of the State Security Committee (KGB) of Belarus, Ivan Tertel, said on Thursday that the Belarusian secret services foiled an alleged attack on the capital Minsk by drones that were allegedly launched from Lithuania, Russian state news agencies reported, according to Reuters, informs Agerpres.

In response, the Lithuanian military said it had not taken hostile actions against other states, according to the British press agency.

“The State Security Committee, in cooperation with colleagues from other law enforcement agencies, recently undertook a series of stringent security measures, which made it possible to prevent strikes by combat drones launched from the territory of Lithuania on targets from Minsk and its suburbs,” said Ivan Tertel, quoted by the RIA Novosti news agency.

In his speech before the People’s Assembly of Belarus, the head of the Minsk regime did not provide further details or any evidence to support his accusation.

Belarus is an ally of Russia and allowed Moscow to use its territory to launch the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Shortly after the statement of the official from Minsk, there was a first reaction from the authorities in Vilnius, where a spokesman of the Lithuanian army wanted to give assurances that the armed forces of Lithuania – a member country of NATO – did not take any action hostile against other states, according to Reuters.

The series of accusations in Minsk continued with a statement from Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko, who said that the opposition plans to capture a district in the west of the country and ask for the support of NATO troops, as reported by the official Russian news agency RIA Novosti, quoted by Reuters.

It is not known whether Lukashenko has presented any evidence of this, given that all the main opposition leaders in Belarus are either in prison or have been forced into exile.

Lukashenko, a key ally of President Vladimir Putin, has frequently spoken of the danger of an attack from NATO or Ukraine as justification for keeping his military and security apparatus in a state of constant alert, Reuters notes.

“I don’t know why they chose Kobrin district, they talk a lot about it. (They plan to) conquer it and call on NATO to deploy troops,” Lukashenko said in a speech before the All-Belarusian People’s Assembly, a forum made up of representatives of the Minsk leadership, including the executive and legislative branches , plus representatives of “civil society”.

Publisher: CS

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