Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė says that the situation on Lithuania’s borders is being closely monitored due to events in Russia.
“We do not see a direct threat to Lithuania,” she tweeted on Saturday.
“The more the ‘world’s second strongest army’ is worried about a ‘counter-offensive’ in its ranks, the less work is left for Ukraine,” the prime minister added.
She made this statement after the Russian private mercenary company Wagner announced it seized military facilities in Rostov-on-Don, while its leader Yevgeny Prigozhin vowed to overthrow the Russian military leadership.
In response to Wagner’s actions, the Russian authorities declared an anti-terrorist operation regime in Moscow and the Moscow region.
Russian President Vladimir Putin called the armed rebellion by Wagner’s boss a betrayal and promised to defend the people and Russia.
“Spiders in a jar are an unpleasant sight, but the end result is always less poison, whatever the outcome,” Šimonytė commented.
No stronger border protections
Lithuania’s border guard service, VSAT, said that the country’s border with Russia had been under enhanced protection since the start of the invasion of Ukraine and no additional measures were planned in view of the unrest.
“So far there are no direct threats to the Lithuanian border,” commented the VSAT’s spokesman Giedrius Mišutis on Saturday. “The border is being protected at a higher level, both in terms of migration and in preparation for the NATO summit. The level of border protection is high – both Russian and Belarusian. So far, there are no indications that any additional special measures would be needed at the border and in this reinforced state.”
He said that information on the situation in Russia was being monitored.
Citizens advised to leave Russia and Belarus
Meanwhile, the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry has repeated its advise to its citizens not to travel to Russia and Belarus and to leave the country.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs reiterates the existing recommendations for citizens of the Republic of Lithuania not to travel to Russia and Belarus, and urges citizens of the Republic of Lithuania who are currently temporarily in Russia and Belarus to leave the country without delay,” reads a statement published on Saturday.
It stresses that, in this and other circumstances, the travel of Lithuanian citizens to Belarus and Russia, ignoring the recommendations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, endangers their own safety, health and life.
The ministry also noted that the airspace of the European Union countries is closed to Belarusian and Russian planes.
“The situation is constantly changing, so we ask citizens in the countries to be vigilant in public places, to avoid mass events, and to keep an eye on the information published by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania,” the ministry said.
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