Lithuanian president discusses teddy bear stunt with defense chief

Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite and Defense Chief Arvydas Pocius on Monday discussed the unauthorized flight of a plane across the Lithuanian border on July 4.

Two representatives of Sweden's advertising agency Studio Total illegally flew a small plane from Lithuania to Belarus and dropped hundreds of parachute-wearing teddy bears that carried pro-human rights messages on the small city of Ivyanets and Minsk's outskirts before flying back to Lithuania unhindered.

"A working meeting took place," news website delfi.lt quoted Lieutenant General Pocius as saying. "A working [meeting] means that after my return from my summer leave, we talked about the events that had taken place over the previous month."

The teddy bear drop was one of the issues under discussion, he said.

When asked whether he had been reprimanded over the incident, Mr. Pocius said, "I cannot make any comments right now. This is my first day after my leave. I need to find out in detail about the incident. As always, the president was strict, and I don't want to make comments."

Presidential aide Daiva Ulbinaite confirmed that the meeting had taken place but refused to say anything else.

Earlier this month, the Belarusian authorities asked Lithuania and Sweden to help them investigate the invasion of Belarus' airspace on July 4.

Arvydas Anusauskas, chairman of the Lithuanian parliament's national security and defense committee, suggested last week that a foreign plane had been allowed across the Lithuanian border because of a "small mistake" by on-duty air defense officers.