March 29, Pozirk. The Lithuanian foreign ministry has handed Belarusian Chargé d’Affaires Jarasłaŭ Chmyl a note of protest in connection with Alaksandar Łukašenka’s recent remarks.
On March 26, while inspecting troops near the border with Lithuania, the Belarusian leader asked the commander of the Northwestern Operational Command how many kilometers separated them from the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad.
“Forty-two kilometers,” Maj. Gen. Alaksandar Navumienka replied.
“That’s practically nothing,” said Łukašenka. “It’s wrong for them to behave like that. Now you would have to confront the Baltic republics.”
Lithuania said Łukašenka baselessly criticized it as a military threat, suggesting that the Suwałki Gap was vulnerable and ordering the Belarusian army to prepare for possible confrontation with the Baltic States and Poland.
It said these remarks could be interpreted as an escalation of the Belarusian government’s aggressive foreign policy and denounced them as absolutely unacceptable.
It demanded an immediate explanation from Minsk and pledged to take all possible measures to ensure security, independence and territorial integrity.
The Suwałki Gap is a narrow strip in Poland and Lithuania that some Western experts call a “weak link.” Its occupation by Belarusian and Russian forces would cut off the Baltics from the rest of the EU and connect Belarus’ Hrodna region with Kaliningrad.
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