MINSK. Aug 17 (Interfax/BNS) - Lithuania will hold a military and border guard exercise to practice several ways to protect its border with Belarus in August, Lithuanian Interior Minister Agne Bilotaite said on Thursday.
"The plan for border protection, that is, interaction between the State Border Guard Service and the army at various threat levels, was recently updated. This month, we plan to organize training in collaboration with the army to practice several options for the border protection plan," the minister was quoted by BNS as saying at the Tverecius crossing point on the Belarusian border, which was closed on Thursday.
Lithuania plans to practice two scenarios during the training, Bilotaite said. The first one relates to illegal migration "in the event of non-standard situations." It will also practice actions to be taken in the event of a "hybrid military threat" at the border.
"We are checking interaction between our officers and the army in order to be able to act very effectively in a difficult situation [and] to ensure national security," she said.
The government approved a plan to protect the Lithuanian-Belarusian border which has been adapted to new threats in early July, the agency said. "According to the Interior Ministry, the updated protection plan will ensure reinforcement of the operational forces at the Lithuanian border in the event of a high threat level, and no additional interdepartmental approval will be needed for this," it said.
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