Lithuania says Russia is using drone incidents to spread false claims
Lithuania's crisis management chief rejected claims that Ukrainian drones were permitted to cross Lithuanian airspace and urged residents to follow official warnings.
By Larissa Bell ·
Russia is exploiting overnight drone incidents to circulate disinformation, the head of Lithuania's National Crisis Management Centre warned on November 11. Vilmantas Vitkauskas said social media users were spreading false allegations that Lithuania had allowed Ukrainian drones to travel through its airspace towards Russia.
Speaking to journalists on Wednesday, Vitkauskas rejected suggestions that Lithuania was either facilitating those flights or giving Ukrainian drones permission to use its airspace. He described the allegations as entirely false. His remarks were reported by Delfi and cited by European Pravda, according to Ukrainska Pravda.
The warning followed air-raid alerts issued to residents of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania during the night of November 10 to 11. Those alerts concerned the threat of drones entering the three countries' airspace amid a Ukrainian attack on the Russian port of Ust-Luga. The overnight incidents were the backdrop to the claims Vitkauskas addressed.
Alongside the allegations about Lithuanian airspace, Vitkauskas highlighted social media messages encouraging people to disregard warnings from government institutions. He said it was difficult to establish whether the people spreading those calls were doing so deliberately or acting out of ignorance. His comments distinguished the false claims about drone flights from the uncertainty over why people were urging others to ignore alerts.
Vitkauskas appealed to residents to take official warnings seriously and comply with the instructions accompanying them. He stressed that the warnings and other efforts by government institutions were intended to safeguard residents' wellbeing and lives. He specifically pointed to the Lithuanian Armed Forces when explaining the protective purpose of those measures.
Shelter arrangements were also due to be discussed on Wednesday. Vitkauskas announced that the National Security Commission would meet to consider whether shelters were available, how they should be opened and how their management could be handled centrally. The planned discussion covered both access to shelters and the procedures governing their operation.
The Ukrainian drone attack targeted Ust-Luga in Leningrad Oblast, in western Russia. The port is approximately 30 to 40 kilometres from the Estonian border. It is one of the principal ports Russia uses to move oil through its shadow fleet, and the attack coincided with the drone threat warnings sent to residents across the three Baltic countries.
