Lithuania is considering declaring a nationwide state-level emergency in response to a surge of smugglers’ balloons drifting in from Belarus, according to a draft proposal the Interior Ministry submitted Friday.
The Cabinet is expected to vote on the measure next week.
Under Lithuania’s crisis management law, the government may declare a state-level emergency when an incident meets official criteria in at least two municipalities, or when a municipal-level emergency lasts more than a year or requires outside resources.
The parliamentary opposition is urging an even stronger step – a state of emergency – a stricter legal regime that can be imposed only by the parliament if the country’s constitutional order or public peace is at risk.
Lithuania last declared a state of emergency in February 2022 after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. An earlier emergency was imposed along the Belarusian border in November 2021 amid a spike in migrant crossings from Belarus.
According to the Interior Ministry, 599 smugglers’ balloons and 197 drones have crossed into Lithuanian airspace this year, disrupting 320 flights, affecting 47,000 passengers and causing nearly 60 hours of airport closures.
Weather balloons launched by cigarette smugglers in Belarus have disrupted operations at Vilnius Airport more than a dozen times in recent months and once at Kaunas Airport.
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