Lithuanian border guards are not firing at refugees gathered on the country's border with Belarus, Lithuanian Deputy Foreign Minister Mantas Adomenas said on Wednesday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 10th November, 2021) Lithuanian border guards are not firing at refugees gathered on the country's border with Belarus, Lithuanian Deputy Foreign Minister Mantas Adomenas said on Wednesday.
On October 29, the Belarusian State Border Committee said Lithuanian border security officers physically dragged Iraqi migrants to the border with Belarus and threatened to shoot them if they attempted to return.
"There was no firing at our borders. And our officers did not use any weapons. Even if firing (of weapons) can be heard, it probably comes from the side of Belarus," Adomenas said on air with Russian radio station Ekho Moskvy (Echo of Moscow).
The minister noted that the only aggression that could be observed at the border with Belarus comes from Belarusian border guards and special services who threaten the refugees.
Adomenas added that Lithuanian border guards only have the authority to detain border violators and not shoot at them.
Polish border guards have accused Belarusian soldiers of staging "provocations" at the border, such as shooting blank cartridges in their direction and throwing explosives. Adomenas stressed that neither Lithuanian nor Polish border guards used, or attempted to use weapons aimed at refugees.
Since summer, Lithuania, Latvia, and Poland have reported an increase in the number of people illegally crossing the border from Belarus, accusing the country of using migrants as a "hybrid weapon" against the bloc after it imposed sanctions on Minsk. Belarus, in turn, said that it could no longer suppress migration to neighboring countries due to lack of resources caused by Western sanctions against the country.
