Currently, all military cooperation activities are suspended, except for verification.
Legal basis for military cooperation. A bilateral agreement on cooperation in the field of defense was signed in Vilnius in 2010. The Ministry of National Defense of the Republic of Lithuania and the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Belarus signed a Protocol of Intent on mutual informing the parties about unauthorized situations in the airspace over the Ignalina VNPP and its approaches in 2001. Based on the agreement, the parties established a communication channel between the Central Command Point of the Belarus Air Force and the Airspace Control Center of the Lithuanian Air Force. Taking into account the provisions of the Vienna Document, an agreement on the implementation of additional security and confidence-building measures on the basis of diplomatic notes was reached in 2001. The agreement between the Ministry of National Defence of Lithuania and the Ministry of Defence of Belarus on the exchange of information on aircraft flights in the border zone was signed in 2003, and renewed in 2008 and in 2018. The agreement regulates the terms and procedure for the exchange of information.
Military diplomatic representation. The office of the Lithuanian Defence Attaché to Belarus was established in Minsk in 2004. Belarus appointed a Defence Attaché to Lithuania in 1998, the Belarus Defence Attaché resided in Vilnius until July 2021. The Lithuanian Defence Attaché to Belarus was recalled for consultations.
Bilateral military cooperation. Practical military cooperation has been carried out with the Ministry of Defence of Belarus since 2004. A bilateral cooperation plan was drawn up annually. The cooperation included working meetings and consultations of AF specialists, linguists, ecologists, military geographers, lawyers, and armament inspectors, English language training for representatives of Belarus at the Military Academy of Lithuania, and training of Lithuanian armament inspectors in Belarus. The Lithuanian Embassy in Minsk performed the functions of a NATO contact embassy from 2004 to 2010, during which educational visits to Lithuania by soldiers, youth, representatives of non-governmental organizations, teachers, and journalists were carried out, introducing them to Lithuania’s security and defense policy and military units.
Security and confidence-building measures. Lithuania and Belarus agreed on an additional quota for inspections and military data assessment visits in 2001 in accordance with Vienna Document on Confidence- and Security-Building Measures of 1999. In addition, information is exchanged with Belarus about the largest military event, in which the number of participating military forces does not exceed the threshold for notifiable military activities set out in the Vienna Document. Observers are exchanged during the organization of military exercises.
