rifle

Like the British troops who readily acknowledged the “pluck” of the Dervishes, Mr. Hart is impressed by their willingness to face the massed firepower of rifles, machine guns and artillery.

Clad in military fatigues and armed with rifles loaded with blank cartridges, members of the Lithuanian Rifleman’s Union, or LRU, a state-funded paramilitary group, spent several days training to repel a possible enemy attack.

"I was a serving soldier. I had regular access to assault rifles, pistols, machine guns, sniper rifles. At no point there was there any risk or threat to the public."

He added that he had "never held a sniper rifle in my life".

They said they spotted what was later revealed to be a “break barrel air rifle” between his legs.