Lithuania's foreign ministry on Friday said it was expelling two Belarusian diplomats for "activities incompatible with the status of a diplomat". Belarus said the move was "unjustified" and added that two Lithuanian diplomats would have to leave the country within the next seven days. "Two BY intelligence officers working under the diplomatic cover were asked to leave Lithuania. No thank you and goodbye," Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said on Twitter. The ministry statement said a representative of Minsk's embassy was summoned to receive a protest "against the continuing repressions of Belarusian civil society and the independent media". Landsbergis said the move was also in solidarity with Lithuania's Baltic neighbour Latvia which saw its entire embassy staff expelled from Belarus. The action by Minsk was in response to Latvian authorities earlier this week hoisting a Belarusian opposition flag at a hotel used by participants in an ice hockey championship. In Minsk, foreign ministry spokesman Anatoly Glaz said Belarus would have to reciprocate and declare two Lithuanian diplomats persona non grata. "Lithuania is deliberately ramping up tensions in ties with Belarus," Glaz said in a statement, adding the expulsions would hurt ordinary people. Belarus has come under intense international pressure after diverting a Ryanair flight and forcing it to land in Minsk on Sunday before arresting a dissident journalist on board and his girlfriend. The EU has banned Belarusian airlines, urged EU airlines not to cross Belarusian airspace and threatened tough economic sanctions on President Alexander Lukashenko's Kremlin-backed regime. saj-dt-as/bp