Vilnius Believes Russia Can Attack Lithuania With 24-Hour Notice

VILNIUS (Sputnik) — The Lithuanian Ministry of Defense says Russia may be able to attack Lithuania with 24-48-hour notice and considers Russian-Belarusian 2017 joint drills as an additional security threat to the Baltic nation, the ministry and its State Security Department said Monday in a report.

"Currently, Russia is capable to conduct combat activities against the Baltic States with 24-48 hrs notice," the report read.

The report also focused on joint Russian-Belarusian exercise Zapad-2017 scheduled for September this year.

"A real number of exercise participants will highly likely exceed the officially stated numbers and the exercise scenario will simulate an armed conflict with NATO. Some of the exercise training ranges will be very close to Lithuanian border, therefore a possibility of deliberate or accidental incidents should not be ruled out," the report said.

The report also named Russia as "a major source of threats posed to the national security of the Republic of Lithuania" in its summary, adding that "throughout 2016, intelligence services of Russia as well as closely cooperating services of Belarus have continued their active and aggressive activity against Lithuania."

NATO forces are deployed in Lithuania and several other countries of Eastern Europe, which has prompted Moscow to repeatedly express concern over the military build-up close to Russian borders.