Lithuania’s Chief of Defence Raimundas Vaikšnoras said on Thursday that a hotline with Belarus remains operational regardless of the political climate, but does not amount to regular diplomatic engagement with Minsk.
"No matter the political situation, the hotline remains. It was inactive for a while, but with incidents like last year's Gerbera drone entry and the current risk of objects crossing the border due to the war in Ukraine, it is necessary," Vaikšnoras told LRT.
According to Vaikšnoras, such channels help prevent misunderstandings but represent technical communication rather than political proximity.
The commander’s remarks follow a suspected drone incursion into Lithuanian airspace on Wednesday, which triggered a two-hour air alert in the eastern part of the country, including Vilnius.
Land Forces Commander Nerijus Stankevičius previously said that Belarus provided information regarding a suspected drone flying toward Lithuania. This data matched Lithuanian and Latvian military radar readings, prompting the activation of the NATO air policing mission.
"There was an initial call from our Air Force operations officer. Naturally, as always, they [Belarus] initially denied it, but when they likely had no other choice, they called back and said there was a risk of entry into our territory," Vaikšnoras said.
He added that Lithuanian, Latvian, and NATO radars had detected unclear activity within Belarusian territory prior to the incident, which may have been related to attempts to "neutralise or intercept objects".
The Lithuanian military continued its search for the suspected drone in the Vilnius and Varėna districts on Thursday.
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