Migrants first, now rockets: alarming signs on the Belarusian border

The Telegram channel Nexta, one of whose founders, Ramanas Pratasevičius, was hijacked last month from a Ryanair plane that landed in Minsk, published on Wednesday several recordings of military equipment moving near the border with Lithuania: defense complexes anti-aircraft.

A record shows that this mobile air defense unit passed through a regional hospital in Medillo, about 50 km from the border with Lithuania, and headed north. The video clearly shows not only the hospital itself, but also the road reference to the pride of the ancient city of GDL: the Church of the Scapular of Our Lady.

The person who filmed the whole thing incorrectly identifies the military equipment, saying it is the “Bastion” anti-ship complex. In fact, the video captures the S-300 anti-aircraft defense complexes, a mobile radar and at least two launchers, one of which has four anti-aircraft missiles. Its maximum range depends on the modification: P, PS or M and can reach up to 200 km.

This means that the Lukashenko regime, which has forcibly landed and sanctioned the Athens-Vilnius plane with these air defense systems, can now cover part of the Lithuanian airspace at the border and invade the planes within it.

The following video already shows an expanded S-300 battery. According to the Nexta channel, this unit was registered in a field near Medil, between the villages of Bajorai and Kulikai.

This is not the first time that the Lukashenko regime has demonstrated military might on the border with Lithuania. Last year, after the rigged presidential elections, Lukashenko, who maintained his power by force, sent military units to the border with Lithuania and conducted demonstration exercises.

ISR activity in Lithuania
Scored at 09: 55z

US exercise

Challenger 605
(Deep Sense Capability)
N488CR
BRIO68

RC-12X railing
(Sigint)

93-0701
YANK01

91-0516
YANK02

Ref: https://t.co/s0zsOVOvOh pic.twitter.com/6DlYUofUuo
– BlueSky (@AirSpecInt) June 30, 2021

As last time, the movement of Belarusian military units is closely followed by NATO intelligence capabilities: at the time of the S-300’s deployment near the Lithuanian border, the RC-12X Guardrail electronic intelligence aircraft US Army and the Artemis experimental aircraft, all three can collect information on the capabilities of Belarusian radars and other data on air defense systems.

Tensions with Belarus have escalated in recent weeks, with hundreds of illegal refugees crossing the border from Belarus in May-June alone than in the previous year.