Two armed Russian border guards were detained in the Lithuanian territory in Nida on the Curonian Spit on Friday night after unlawfully crossing the border.

As reported by LNK TV News, the officers of the Border Service of the Russian Federal Security Service were spotted in the Lithuanian territory at around 23:00 by officers from the Neringa frontier station of the Coast Guard District.

Armed with pistols, the Russian border guards were detained around 800 meters from the Lithuanian border post to the Curonian Lagoon side, in the state border protection zone. They wandered around 500 metres into Lithuania's territory.

Vidas Mačaitis, deputy commander of Lithuania's State Border Guard Service, said the Russian border guards claimed to have crossed the Lithuanian-Russian border inadvertently.

“They responded to a border violation from Russia to the Lithuanian territory, they said. Due to their lack of experience, as they have worked only at their control point on the Russian side, they entered our territory, and our border guards recorded that fact via their CCTV systems, went there and detained them. Procedures have been launched,” Macaitis said.

Russian officials were informed about the incident, and the Russian border guards were handed over to their country on Saturday.

The incident in Nida took place soon after a meeting of commanders of the frontier districts guarding the border with Russia with colleagues from the Russian region of Kaliningrad.