Lithuania’s authorities have agreed that the planned legislative amendments should allow the State Border Guard Service (VSAT) and the Public Security Service (VST) to take down contraband-carrying balloons that illegally enter Lithuania’s airspace, Defence Minister Laurynas Kasčiūnas said on Wednesday.
“We’ve agreed that the legislative amendments will allow border guards and the VST to neutralise these balloons. We’re moving forward with the amendments to provide both services with the same conditions and equipment,” he told reporters.
Kasčiūnas said representatives from various institutions reached this agreement during a meeting on Monday. According to Interior Minister Agnė Bilotaitė, she will soon table the legislative amendments in question.
Two incidents of smuggler balloons allegedly crossing from Belarus and landing in critical infrastructure facilities have been recorded in Lithuania recently.
A balloon landed at the stadium of the Grand Duchess Birutė Uhlan Battalion in the southern town of Alytus late on Tuesday, following a similar incident at Vilnius Airport on Saturday.
“The first thing to clarify is that there’s been some misleading information suggesting these balloons have some kind of navigational mechanisms. That’s not true. These are random flights, but they are happening,” Kasčiūnas said.
According to the minister, these balloons are used to smuggle contraband and do not contain any intelligence equipment. While it will take time to adapt to handling such objects, they pose no threat to critical infrastructure, he said.
Border guards say they could theoretically take down such balloons if they come closer to the ground, but they do not have the authority to do so. Balloons flying at higher altitudes are out of reach for them, as they lack the necessary equipment to monitor or shoot them down.
Meanwhile, the Lithuanian Armed Forces, which can detect such flying objects, say they are monitoring them but do not comment on their tracking due to the sensitivity of the information.
The military also emphasises that shooting down such balloons during peacetime would be an extreme measure.
The VSAT says it has recorded around 250 incidents involving such balloons in the past month.
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