On 6 June, the Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs handed a representative of the Belarusian Embassy a “note of strong protest” in connection with the recorded violation of the Lithuanian border by Belarusian border guards.
According to the Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Minsk authorities were demanded “to provide explanations about the incident as soon as possible and to take all necessary measures to prevent such incidents from recurring in the future”.
The Lithuanian State Border Guard Service reported on 5 June that employees of the Jurgis Kibartas outpost of the Vilnius Border Guard Unit “noticed three Belarusian border guards walking along the border on the Belarusian side.”
“The border line in this place is marked by a central polygonometric pole, on both sides of which there are signs of the state border,” reads the report. – A little further into the Lithuanian territory is a physical barrier fence with an “accordion” (a barbed wire fence with sharp blades), designed to protect against illegal migration. According to preliminary information, during this patrol there could have been a border crossing to the Lithuanian side for up to two metres with a quick return to Belarus,” Lithuanian border guards said.
It was stated that the Vilnius Border Guard Unit is collecting materials and clarifying the circumstances of the incident. The issue of “launching a pre-trial investigation into the illegal crossing of the state border” is being decided.
In July and August 2023, the State Border Committee of Belarus reported short-term border violations by Lithuanian border guards and their vehicles. The first case was recognised by the Lithuanian side, which believed that an inexperienced border guard at the time could have crossed the border line “due to negligence”.