Lithuania suspects a Belarus Mi-24 attack helicopter (NATO code name Hind) entered its airspace on Sunday afternoon without permission, the Belsat news agency reported.

The head of the Belarusian diplomatic mission in Vilnius, Valery Baranouski, received a protest note today. The reason is the violation of the state border by the Belarusian military helicopter, according to Belsat.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Vilnius stated in the note that the Belarusian Mi-24 breached Lithuanian airspace yesterday at 18:50 in the vicinity of the village of Miedniki (Medininkai). The Lithuanian side called on the authorities in Minsk to clarify the circumstances of the incident and to prevent such incidents from happening in the future.

In turn, the Belarusian military said that 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.

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