The Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has sent a note of protest to Belarus regarding the Gerber drone that flew into the country’s territory.
The Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported this on its Facebook page, according to reports from “European Pravda”.
“Today (16 July, the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry summoned the charge d’affaires of Belarus and handed him a note of protest, expressing its protest over the illegal entry of a Gerber drone into Lithuanian territory on 10 July. The drone crashed on Lithuanian territory, approximately one kilometre from the border. The Lithuanian Foreign Ministry demands that Belarus provide an explanation for this incident as soon as possible and take measures to prevent a similar incident from happening again,” the Foreign Ministry reported.
According to Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budris, quoted by Delfi, the fact that a military drone flew into Lithuania is the responsibility of Belarus, which allowed this to happen.
The minister called the appearance of the Gerber in Lithuania a “serious violation,” and Lithuania could not quickly identify the object, so it had to raise the air police.
“This was likely the case. An investigation is underway. Of course, some services collect and evaluate this information, establish the whole picture – yes, this incident is probably related to Ukraine, one of the drones used in the group flew into Lithuania. But the point is, this time it was an imitation drone, next time it may not be an imitation,” Budris said, noting that Lithuania should strengthen its airspace defence.
As a reminder, on 10 July, the Lithuanian State Border Guard Service reported that an aircraft resembling a homemade drone had flown in from the territory of Belarus. Later, it became known that it was a Gerber unmanned aerial vehicle.
Against the backdrop of this incident, EU Defence Commissioner Andrius Kubilius called on Lithuania and neighbouring countries to build a regional “drone wall” and prepare for the mass production of drones.
Українська правда
