Petras Vaida, BC, Vilnius, 16.08.2012.
On August 14, Lithuanian State Border Guard Service (VSAT) launched pre-trial investigation into the illegal Lithuanian state border crossing when Swedish piloted plane entered the territory of the Republic of Belarus, on July4.
The pre-trial investigation was launched on the basis of illegal border crossing and the violations of international flight rules, writes LETA/ELTA.
Pre-trial investigation is conducted by the Lithuanian Prosecutor General's Office.
As ELTA has previously reported on August 14, Ambassador of Belarus to Lithuania,
Vladimir Drazhin
, was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania. During the meeting, the official European Union's position on Belarus' refusal to renew the accreditation of the Ambassador of Sweden and the fact that Swedish diplomats would lose their status was explained, the MFA reports.The EU member-states agreed to react unanimously on these decisions made by the Belarus authorities. During the meeting, it was underlined that the Belarus Government's decision on expulsion of Swedish diplomats will affect not only bilateral relations between Sweden and Belarus, but also will have an impact on relations between the EU and Belarus.
Lithuanian Chairman of Parliamentary Committee on National Security and Defence (PCNSD)
Arvydas Anusauskas
reported that an extraordinary meeting will be held on August 21-22.Lithuanian Minister of National Defence
Rasa Jukneviciene
says that Lithuanian air space was not trespassed when Swedish piloted light aircraft crossed the Lithuanian – Belarusian border in a "teddy bear stunt" on July 4.Belarus has expelled Swedish diplomats from Belarus and withdrew Belorussian Ambassador from Sweden over this incident.
On Thursday President of the Republic of Belarus
Alexander Lukashenko
said that Lithuanians should be held accountable for the fact that Swedish plane with teddy bears allegedly took off from Lithuanian town and then violated the Belarusian border."They should not be sitting as mice under the broom. We are waiting on them to inform us why they allowed using their space for the violation of the state border of another country. Lithuania may rest assured there will be plenty for it," the Belarusian president said.
Swedish advertising agency Studio Total took the responsibility for the teddy bears stunt. Its representatives have pointed out that they acted on their own initiative.
