Lithuania ready to 'fight back' but has evacuation plans in face of Russia threats, PM tells BBC
Sinkevičius told BBC Newsnight Lithuanians feel "constantly threatened" by Moscow, but the nation was prepared to "fight back" if attacked.
Lithuania is prepared to “fight back” but has evacuation plans in place amid threats from Russia, the prime minister has told the BBC.
Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevičius said Lithuania has drawn up evacuation plans in response to Russian threats, but stressed that the country “will not surrender” if it is attacked.
Speaking to Newsnight, Sinkevičius said Lithuanians feel “constantly threatened” by Russia, partly because of drones entering the country’s airspace.
He said that if Lithuania were attacked, “we will fight back... we will engage”. He added that authorities have plans for a “variety of scenarios”, including moving elderly people out of cities “smoothly” and preventing traffic jams.
Lithuania, which is a Nato member, shares a land border with the Russian enclave of Kaliningad.
“We're thinking about a variety of scenarios, not all of them are being discussed very much publicly,” Sinkevičius told the BBC.
“We face concrete threats, not on a daily basis, but we're experiencing them and it's a true reality for us.”
Sinkevičius also said the UK needed a “shift in the mindset” in its approach to defence, while noting that Lithuania was “closer to the border and closer to [the] threat”.
Nato fighter pilots shot down a drone that entered Lithuanian airspace.
Although the drone’s origins have not been confirmed, Lithuanian Defence Minister Robertas Kaunas told Newshour that it came from the direction of Belarus, Lithuania’s neighbour and a key Russian ally.
The UK's Defence Secretary Wes Streeting said: “Thanks to the swift and professional actions of Lithuanian and Italian forces, Nato once again demonstrated our readiness to protect our airspace.
“We stand united, around the clock, in defence of every inch of Nato territory.”
Moscow did not comment on the incident.
Military drone incursions have become increasingly common across Europe since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale of invasion of Ukraine.
Residents in Lithuania’s capital Vilnius were also forced to take shelter in May after a drone alert was triggered, briefly grounding flights and rail travel.
Nato jets have scrambled multiple times this year to shoot down stray Ukrainian drones that crossed into fellow Baltic countries Estonia and Latvia.
Ukraine has blamed the stray drones on Russian electronic warfare, technology designed to alter the flight paths of Ukrainian drones.
Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia all joined Nato in 2004, becoming signatories to the Article 5 provision that states “an armed attack against one NATO member shall be considered an attack against all members”.