Lithuania denies remarkable claim from Belarus: no drone attack carried out

NOS News•today, 2:24 PM

Belarus claims to have repelled a drone attack from neighboring Lithuania. The Russian news agency TASS reports this on the basis of the KGB, the security service of Belarus. NATO member Lithuania denies that an attack took place.

Belarus does not provide many details, according to the head of the KGB in order not to endanger the security of his country. He only says that combat drones have been sent from Lithuanian territory to Minsk and the surrounding area. The TASS message does not mention who would be responsible for this. Evidence for the attack is also not mentioned there.

A spokesman for the Lithuanian army insists that his country has not carried out or plans to carry out an attack. An attack from NATO territory would be a major escalation of the conflict, as Belarus has close ties with Russia.

Just today, Belarusian leader Lukashenko announced that Russia has moved “several dozen” tactical nuclear weapons to his country. It is the first time since Soviet times that Russian nuclear weapons have been transferred abroad. Belarus and Russia signed an agreement last year that makes this possible.

In contrast to atomic bombs that can wipe out entire cities, tactical nuclear weapons can be used on the battlefield against the enemy on a much more limited scale. Lukashenko warned that his country and Russia could use all kinds of weapons if Belarus is attacked.

According to the Russian news agency Ria, Lukashenko called the arrival of the weapons a response to the aggressive attitude of other countries towards Belarus. According to him, 120,000 Ukrainian troops are stationed on the border with his country and Western countries carry out about fifty spy flights along the border every week.

New weapons were also recently deployed on the Ukrainian side, ATACMS long-range missiles that the US secretly supplied to the country in recent weeks. Targets in Crimea, illegally annexed by Russia, came under fire. The Kremlin called the delivery of such weapons that can also reach targets deep in Russia an escalation.

In his speech to top officials, Lukashenko accused the opposition of trying to take over a district in the west of the country before asking for NATO support. As far as we know, he provided no evidence for those accusations. The opposition has been cracked down on in the country for years and many leaders are in prison or have fled.

Meanwhile, Lukashenko also said that it is time for peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, because there would have been a stalemate at the front. The two countries should continue talking based on the talks they had shortly after the start of the war in Turkey.