Łukašenka tells Lithuania to deal with cigarette smuggling on its territory

October 28, Pozirk. Speaking at the III Minsk International Conference on Eurasian Security on October 28, Alaksandar Łukašenka denounced Lithuania’s closure of border checkpoints as “a crazy gamble” aimed at disrupting the forum.

His comments come the day after Lithuania closed the Šalčininkai and Medininkai border crossings for an indefinite period, citing an influx of cigarette-smuggling balloons from Belarus. Vilnius Airport was forced to suspend operations four times for several hours due to the airspace violations, causing flight delays and cancellations that affected thousands of passengers.

“Lithuania considers the deliberate inaction of Belarusian institutions to be a hybrid attack and is closing its state border with Belarus until further notice,” the Lithuanian foreign ministry said on X.

Łukašenka dismissed Lithuania’s explanation of the closure as “absurd.” “Even for a small country like Lithuania, this is small,” he said.

He added that Lithuanian officials have demanded that Minsk apologize for launching balloons into their territory. “You know, one should always apologize if one is guilty. If they prove that we are to blame, we will be ready to discuss it publicly and certainly apologize,” the Belarusian ruler said.

He advised Lithuania to deal with the issue domestically: “If small balloons carrying cigarettes or something else are flying there, I believe the problem should be solved within their territory. Because they don’t just fly to nowhere. Someone receives them and someone profits. They need to identify and root out these schemes.”

Łukašenka also referred to the recent closure of the Polish border, calling it “an element of hybrid warfare.” According to him, the measure harmed not only Belarusians but also Poland, which, he said, used to earn 65–70 percent of its transit revenue from China.

“Now they’re trying to find a way out of this situation. Unlikely. You know China and its approach to such matters,” he said.

The border crossings in Medininkai and Šalčininkai were the only two checkpoints handling all cross-border traffic between Lithuania and Belarus after Vilnius closed the Šumskas and Tverečius crossings in 2023 and the Lavoriškės and Raigardas checkpoints in 2024, citing national security and smuggling concerns.

Cigarette smuggling remains a lucrative illegal trade: while legally sold cigarettes are of higher quality, they cost in Lithuania three to four times more than those produced in Belarus.

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