Lithuania has lodged a protest against statements made by Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko regarding possible military operations against the neighbouring country.
The Foreign Ministry of the Baltic EU and NATO member state issued a diplomatic note in Vilnius on Friday expressing its "strong protest" against statements made earlier this week during a visit to a military exercise.
The authoritarian neighbouring country has also been asked to make an official statement as soon as possible.
On Tuesday, a video of a visit by Lukashenko's troops was published on a pro-government Telegram channel in Belarus. It showed the long-term ruler having the objectives of an exercise explained to him by a military representative and talking about how the Belarusian army is prepared to attack parts of Poland or Lithuania if necessary.
A narrow land corridor, the Suwalki Corridor, runs between the two EU and NATO states, which border the Russian Baltic Sea exclave of Kaliningrad and Russia's close ally Belarus.
According to the Foreign Ministry, the statements contained unjustified accusations about alleged military threats by Lithuania against Belarus, insinuations about the unsustainability of the Suwalki corridor and instructions to prepare the Belarusian army for a possible confrontation with the Baltic states and Poland.
This could be interpreted as a "further escalation of Belarus' aggressive foreign policy" and was "completely unacceptable," the statement said.