Sinkevičius says Article 5 should not be invoked over drone incident

Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevičius said Article 5 should not be invoked over the recent drone incident because there was no “classic beginning” to the situation, LRT reported. He said Lithuania’s threat level had not increased and remained broadly unchanged, though a calmer period was hard to expect.

Sinkevičius said Russia was operating “at the threshold of Article 5,” adding that comments from colleagues in Poland and Germany also caused him concern.

Discussing a drone that entered Lithuanian airspace, the prime minister said the response differed because the aircraft came from Poland, a friendly country within the Schengen area. He said the authorities used a different response procedure than they would have if a drone had entered from Belarus or the Kaliningrad region. About 13 minutes passed between the border crossing and the public being informed, he said.

Sinkevičius said Lithuanian officials and the air force had recorded the drone travelling from the Augustów area towards Suwałki and crossing the Lithuanian-Polish border. He said Lithuania and Poland would compare what their respective authorities had observed. He suggested that the drone’s altitude or how it was identified might explain why it was not detected in the same way by both countries.

A Ukrainian representative apologised after the drone appeared to be Ukrainian, according to the interview. The article also reported that the possible crash location was in Pasvalys district.