Lithuania has closed its last two border checkpoints with Belarus in response to repeated incursions by balloons carrying contraband, which officials are calling a hybrid attack by the Minsk regime.
“We consider this a hybrid attack,” Prime Minister Inga Ruginienė told reporters, adding that they saw the inaction from Minsk in stopping the balloon launches as a sign of the regime’s involvement.
Her announcement came after Lithuania's airports were closed four times last week due to weather balloons launched from Belarus to carry contraband cigarettes, disrupting more than 140 flights and affecting over 20,000 passengers.
Lithuania's two remaining border checkpoints with Belarus in Medininkai and Šalčininkai are now closed, with the government set to decide on Wednesday whether the closures will remain indefinitely.
“We are already prepared to approve a decision to close the border with Belarus indefinitely, with certain exceptions,” Ruginienė told reporters on Monday following a meeting of the National Security Commission.
According to officials, restrictions will not apply to diplomats or diplomatic mail, and Lithuanian and EU citizens, as well as people holding a Lithuanian residency permit, will still be permitted to enter from Belarus.
“All other movement will be halted. This sends a clear signal to Belarus that no hybrid attack will be tolerated here, and we will take the strictest possible measures to stop such actions,” she said.
The closures will also affect cargo transported by road to the Russian Kaliningrad exclave on the Baltic coast. However, those transiting to and from Kaliningrad will still be allowed to cross.
"If we are talking about transit through the Belarusian border [to Kaliningrad] – I mean trucks – the border will now be closed for an indefinite period," the prime minister said.
However, the State Border Guard Service (VSAT) later said lorries holding transit exemptions would be allowed to cross the border.
Lithuanian officials did not say whether the rail link with Belarus would be affected by the border closures.
Ruginienė added that, starting Monday, the Lithuanian Armed Forces would take “kinetic measures” to bring down the balloons.
“Yesterday we carried out reconnaissance and testing operations,” she said, without disclosing the exact weapons to be used to target the smuggler balloons.
The government is also expected this week to consider amendments to the Criminal Code introducing “the toughest penalties” for contraband.
“Previously, we talked about increasing financial penalties, but today we discussed that this could also include imprisonment,” the prime minister noted.
Lithuania will consult with its allies regarding the balloon threat, and the Foreign Ministry has been instructed to coordinate “an additional package of sanctions against Belarus.”
“The police and the State Border Guard Service have formed joint task forces and began their work yesterday. A full action plan to combat smuggling has been developed, and these operations will only intensify,” Ruginienė said.
Later on Monday, the Lithuanian intelligence service, the State Security Department (VSD), said the aim was to destabilise the country.
In 2021, Lithuania and Brussels accused the Minsk regime of orchestrating a migration crisis in response to sanctions placed in the wake of the brutal crackdown on the Belarusian opposition, also calling it a hybrid attack.
However, the general prosecutor’s office said there was no proof yet that the balloon was more than criminal activity.
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys said smugglers using balloons was “an old problem”, but they were now having increasingly noticeable consequences after grounding planes.
Vilnius was now considering additional tariffs for Belarusian goods and calling for additional EU sanctions, Budrys said, adding that border closures – especially when placed together with other countries – had the most effect on the Belarusian regime.
The prime minister also said the country would consider invoking NATO’s Article 4, which calls for consultations among allies.
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