Two Lithuanian workers unintentionally crossed the border with Belarus illegally while carrying out work at the Medininkai border checkpoint on Tuesday, the State Border Guard Service (VSAT) has confirmed.
“The checkpoint in Medininkai has been undergoing major reconstruction for quite a long time now, [...] and various contractors are carrying out various works there,” VSAT spokesperson Giedrius Mišutis told BNS.
He confirmed that the Belarusian border service forwarded the information about the violation to the VSAT.
According to Mišutis, all workers are warned not to cross the border, and the two workers said they did not notice doing so.
The two workers were fined 35 euros each for “crossing the border through negligence”, the VSAT spokesperson added.
The Belarusian media also reported the incident, citing Belarus’ State Border Committee.
“The Lithuanian side has been informed about the fact of the illegal violation of the Belarusian border, but the Belarusian border service has not received any request for confirmation and other information,” the committee told the media.
It also said that Lithuania has not sent any information about the work on the border, even though it is obligatory to report it.
VSAT says Belarus was informed about the incident on Wednesday.
Lithuanian border guards have recorded two cases of Belarusian officers entering Lithuanian territory in the districts of Švenčionys and Šalčininkai over the past week.
In both cases, Vilnius handed Minsk diplomatic notes expressing its strong protest over “deliberate and systematic violations” of the state border.
“Such things can hardly be compared,” Mišutis said, noting that the Belarusian violators “were officials whose duty is to protect the border and who know the peculiarities of the border and the border line”.
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