The woman was reportedly coming to Belarus in search of better living conditions. However, photos shared by Belarusian border guards show that the woman is of retirement age.
In the video, the Belarusian border guards said that the woman was carrying two bags containing personal belongings, including a knife and a copy of her passport translated into Russian.
The woman was reportedly taken to the Smorgainiai border crossing point to clarify the circumstances of the incident.
VSAT recorded the event
Giedrius Mišutis, a representative of the State Border Guard Service (SBGS), confirmed to lrytas.lt that such an event was indeed recorded, but not on 17 February, but on 15 February. The Lithuanian border guards noticed that a person had crossed the border at an unauthorised place and entered Belarus.
"On 15 February, at 10:30 am, the Švenčionys checkpoint recorded a border violation. A woman approached the border through the forest. There is no concertina there yet, but there are other border security measures. She crossed the border and stopped on the Belarusian side and took a walk, but the Belarusian border guards were not there yet," said G. Mišutis.
The SSAT officers immediately informed the Belarusian border guards about the fixed border violation but did not respond.
The Belarusian border guards were contacted at least five times, the last one on Friday after the post's publication on the social network. Still, no concrete response was received - the Belarusian border guards do not confirm or specify the situation.
"Following the release of this information, their services were specifically contacted and asked again why there has been no response to this violation so far. Unfortunately, there is still no response. The Belarusians have not reacted to our reports about the border violation," the SSSS representative wondered.
It was updated around 2 pm. At 14:00, Belarusian border guards finally contacted VSAT officials and confirmed that they had detained a Lithuanian citizen on their territory.
The identity of the woman seeking a better life is being clarified
Lithuanian border guards do not know why Belarusian border guards did not publicly report the woman who crossed the border illegally until three days later. Whether the woman was spotted only on Thursday or whether the authorities have only now decided to make the information public is being debated.
"The possibility that she was wandering around for two days is, of course, a possibility, but since a specific place was indicated, the arrest could have taken place immediately," Mišutis noted.
He said that usually, when people cross the border illegally, the border guards of both countries contact each other to exchange information and documents. Still, the contact with the Belarusians was broken last year, just before the start of the migrant crisis.
"There have always been border violations on a border like the Lithuanian-Belarusian border - 679 km. There are villages on both sides of the border, and there are all kinds of people - mushroom pickers, lost people, people with all sorts of attitudes and so on. There are both intentional and unintentional violations. It is part of life.
It is nothing special that there is such a violation, and it is difficult to say how it is treated there", explained the representative of the SSSS.
Could it be that the woman who crossed the border searched for a better life, as the Belarusian authorities say, or is this just another provocation by Belarus?
"We have a lot of cases like this, where people come from Belarus and ask for asylum, looking for a better life, but it is difficult to say how many went to Belarus. If there are such cases, they are isolated," he said.
The representative of the SSAT pointed out that in such cases, the person is usually sent back from where they came from.
The Border Guard does not know who the woman was who crossed the border. "We are collecting material now, I cannot say yet", Mišutis stated.
