On Monday, 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 independent Belarusian news website, TUT.by.
#Belarus. I feared the video of military helicopters stopping Lithuanian balloons would not be released. But here you go, the Belarusian Defence Ministry published it indeed. Earlier,it claimed it used Mi-24 military helicopters to stop 8 air balloons “with anti-state slogans” pic.twitter.com/kc54dstqe1
— Hanna Liubakova (@HannaLiubakova) August 24, 2020
According to Linkevičius, the Belarusian military helicopter was spotted near Medininkai, a Lithuanian town close to the border.
‘Belarus breached Lithuanian airspace’, says Foreign Minister Linas Linkevičius.
“Their [Belarusian] helicopter breached our airspace and the Belarusian ambassador was presented with a strict note of protest,” Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevičius told BNS on Monday.