Lithuania is strengthening security on its border with the Russian semi-exclave of Kaliningrad as a preventive measure, Interior Minister Martinas Katelinas said today, DPA reported.
Katelinas said he had asked Defense Minister Robertas Kaunas to send troops to support border guards. He stressed that the situation on the border is calm for now and the actions taken are entirely preventive in nature.
Kaunas approved the deployment of army units and told Lithuanian radio that up to 100 servicemen would participate in border security.
They are expected to remain in the Kaliningrad region for several weeks, with both the duration of the mission and the number of soldiers subject to change depending on the development of the situation.
Lithuania, a member of the European Union and NATO, borders the Russian Kaliningrad region and Belarus, a close ally of Moscow. Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Vilnius has perceived the threat to its own security as particularly serious.
Both ministers cited an incident on the border between Latvia and Belarus, in which masked individuals allegedly attempted to smuggle a group of migrants across the border, as one of the reasons for the decision.
Kaunas added that the deployment of the military was also dictated by the general security situation in the region, as well as signs of a possible Russian mobilization.