KristupasGavelis
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of this site. This site does not give financial, investment or medical advice.
On Monday, 24 August, the press service of the Ministry of Defence of Belarus informed that on the evening of August 23, an attempt to violate the state border in the airspace of Belarus from Lithuania was suppressed in the area of the Kamenny Log border crossing.
The Belarusian Defence Ministry claimed it used Mi-24 military helicopters to stop eight air balloons “with anti-state slogans” from crossing the border during the Freedom Way demonstration in Lithuania.
“A probe of eight balloons with anti-state symbols was launched from the adjacent territory. Thanks to the actions of the crews of the Mi-24 helicopters, the flight of balloons was stopped without the use of weapons,” said the ministry.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania the Belarusian Mi-24 helicopter flew into Lithuania’s territory near Medininkai on 23 August at 18.50 p.m.
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevičius said that ‘Belarus breached Lithuanian airspace’.
“Their [Belarusian] helicopter breached our airspace and the Belarusian ambassador was presented with a strict note of protest,” L. Linkevičius.
According to Linkevičius, the Belarusian military helicopter was spotted near Medininkai, a Lithuanian town close to the border.
“It was seen visually. We have all the information from our air traffic controllers [confirming] that there has been a violation,” he said.
On 24 August, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania summoned the Ambassador of Belarus to Lithuania Valery Baranovsky and handed him a protest note regarding a violation of the state border of Lithuania.
In turn, the Ministry of Defence of Belarus has denied the statements of Vilnius about the violation of the state border of Lithuania by helicopter.
“I consider the actions of our pilots to be in full compliance with our and international legislation. Our pilots operated in the airspace of our state, this is recorded in the material of objective control. There was no violation of the state border of the Republic of Lithuania,“ said Alehas Orlov, Acting Deputy Commander of the Air Force and Air Defence Forces.
He also said that the Ministry of Defence considers the incident with the balloons as a provocation from the Lithuanian side.
According to A. Orlov, although “it may seem to an ordinary person that this fact is insignificant, any border of any state is inviolable”.
He claimed that “those seemingly harmless balloons pose a threat to flight safety” and said “no one knows what kind of cargo those balloons carry”.
“It can be very diverse: explosives, toxic substances and so on,” Orlov said.
The Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs handed a note of protest over the incident at the border to Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Lithuania to Belarus Andrius Pulokas on 24 August, the ministry’s press service told.
The Belarusian source BelTA noted: “According to the available data, an aerial object was launched from the Lithuanian territory on 23 August 2020. The object violated the state border of Belarus and went 3km inside the country’s territory.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLU1WLhVPSs&feature=youtu.be
According to Belarusian source TUT.by, while this video has not been verified, but number of balloons are the same as in the statement of Belarusian side.
Perhaps this fact is a planned provocation.
However, such provocations and statements by representatives of the political leadership of Lithuania from the point of view of international law are direct Intervention in the Domestic Affairs of Belarus.
Declaration on the Inadmissibility of Intervention in the Domestic Affairs of States and the Protection of their Independence and Sovereignty, UN Doc. A/2131 (XX) (1965 Declaration).
The principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of states is one of the fundamental principles of modern international law. Sovereign states shall not intervene in each other’s internal affairs. It is the general principle of contemporary international law that the non-interference in each other’s internal affairs is based on the respect for states’ sovereignty and territorial integration, which governs the relations between states in regard to their rights and obligations. It has been established as the general principle of international law or customary law in compliance with the purposes and principles of the UN Charter.
In addition, the states are prohibited to perform actions that present threat to the world peace and security.
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of this site. This site does not give financial, investment or medical advice.
NATO’s newest slaves, licking NATO boots: Lithuania.
Baltic states are Polish dingle berries that professionally lick criminal American boots. Insignificant and failing, better to pay attention to their own short comings. Artificial European slimes
TASS:
Lithuania places 118 people in Belarus, including President, on sanctions list
https://tass.com/world/1193911
118 people, that is a higher number than there are mentally sound people in Lithuania, which is a country full of fools.
Soon depopulation from people fleeing that idiotic, de-industrialized hellhole, will make 118 mentally sound people the majority of the population.
Declaration on the Inadmissibility of Intervention in the Domestic Affairs of States and the Protection of their Independence and Sovereignty, UN Doc. A/2131 (XX) (1965 Declaration). Really? So the US/Nato members/EU/UK/Israel have been in violation of this declaration without penalties for decades? It is obviously toothless, gumming empty words. First two clauses: 1. No State has the right to intervene, directly or indirectly, for any reason whatever, in the internal or external affairs of any other State. Consequently, armed intervention and all other forms of interference or attempted threats against the personality of the State or against its political, economic… Read more »
It’s bait by the Lithuanians. The Baltics have, ever since the fall of the Soviet Union, been looking for a reason to fight Russia. Belarus is just a proxy battlefield for that. They want a reason to intervene, either militarily or politically, or to force a response from Russia and Belarus.
Of course, this is what happens when small, weaker countries, suddenly get backed by great powers. They get arrogant and think they can take on the world because their sugar daddy and masters will protect them.
Remember how after sending off his boys to die in Afghanistan and listening to Karl Rove’s sweet nothings, Saakashvili thought for sure NATO then had his back, so thought murdering a few dozen peacekeepers and unleashing a failed genocide would have no consequences?
…….and the doomsday clock keeps ticking, one provocateuring notch after another.
Toadies more often than not end up on the pointy end of a toad-sticker.
Wouldn’t it be curiously ironic if a group of anti-communist Russians decided to take it out on Latvians for having supplied the rifle brigades that some say turned the tide for the Bolsheviks during the civil war?
What could Latvia possibly say? Cry foul? LOL