PRIME Minister Inga Ruginiene has said Lithuania has started shooting down smuggler balloons crossing from Belarus and also shut its border crossings with the neighbouring country following repeated interruptions to its air traffic.
“Today we have decided to take the strictest measures, there is no other way,” Ruginiene told a news conference on Monday, saying the crossings will be closed except for travel by diplomats and by European Union citizens leaving Belarus.
NATO and European Union member Lithuania closed Vilnius Airport four times last week after balloons entered its airspace. Each time, it temporarily shut its Belarus border crossings in response to the incidents.
Calling the incidents “hybrid attacks”, Ruginiene said her cabinet will meet on Wednesday to decide whether to prolong the closure of the Belarus border crossings, the BNS news agency reported.
She also said it may also discuss Lithuania invoking NATO Article 4, which states any member country can request a consultation with others whenever it believes its “territorial integrity, political independence or security is threatened”.
European aviation has repeatedly been thrown into chaos in recent weeks by drone sightings and other air incursions, including at airports in Copenhagen, Munich and the Baltic region.
Lithuania has said balloons are sent by smugglers transporting contraband cigarettes from Belarus into the EU, but the country also blames Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, for not stopping the practice.
There was no immediate comment from Belarus.
Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who lives in exile in Lithuania, said in written comments to The Associated Press news agency that the balloon incidents were “yet another sign that the regime is using cigarette smuggling as a tool of hybrid aggression against Europe”.
On Thursday, Lithuania said two Russian military aircraft entered its airspace for about 18 seconds, prompting a formal protest and a reaction from NATO forces, while Russia denied the incident.
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys said recent airspace violations should not be regarded as isolated incidents.
“These are calculated provocations designed to destabilize, distract (and) test NATO’s resolve,” Budrys wrote on X.
