Lithuania has clarified its role in the purchase of surveillance drones for Belarusian authorities.
Lithuanian authorities wired the funds for the 15 drones to Belarusian ones under an EU programme, a Lithuanian diplomat said.
But Lithuania did so on 8 May, well before the eruption of pro-democracy protests in Belarus on 9 August.
"There was no physical launching of the project and the Belarus counterparts of the project bought the drones themselves," the diplomat said.
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Andrew Rettman is EUobserver's foreign editor, writing about foreign and security issues since 2005. He is Polish, but grew up in the UK, and lives in Brussels. He has also written for The Guardian, The Times of London, and Intelligence Online.