Lithuania has lodged a formal protest with Belarus over what it calls continued “hybrid attacks” from Belarusian territory and the seizure of property belonging to European Union citizens and companies, the Foreign Ministry said Wednesday.
Belarus’ chargé d’affaires was summoned to the ministry and handed a protest note demanding that Minsk exercise effective control of its airspace and return the “unlawfully detained” property, the ministry said in a statement.
Lithuania is blaming the Belarusian government for cigarette smuggler balloons that continue flying to its territory and sometimes disrupting civil aviation. After Lithuania temporarily closed its border with Belarus in response, Minsk stopped all Lithuanian cargo trucks that were on the Belarusian territory. The trucks remain stranded in the country, with Minsk demanding foreign ministry-level talks to resolve the issue.
Lithuania said it regretted that Belarus had declined opportunities to discuss the issues at a technical level, despite repeated signals of readiness from Vilnius both publicly and through diplomatic channels.
According to the ministry, Lithuania had been prepared to hold such talks on December 4 on the sidelines of the OSCE Ministerial Council in Vienna, following an offer from Finland – the organization’s current chair – to mediate.
“Unfortunately, the Belarusian side rejected this invitation, saying it was not satisfied with the diplomatic level proposed by Lithuania – the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry has appointed a special envoy for border issues with the rank of ambassador-at-large to handle this matter,” the statement said.
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