December 8, Pozirk. Several dozen Lithuania-based Belarusians gathered yesterday outside the Belarusian embassy in Vilnius to protest against regular violations of Lithuanian airspace by cigarette-smuggling balloons launched from Belarus.
The regimes of Alaksandar Łukašenka and Russian President Vladimir Putin use balloon incursions to threaten civil aviation in the European Union, Hanna Krasulina, spokeswoman for Belarusian opposition leader Śviatłana Cichanoŭskaja, said at the rally.
“This is just one of the elements in a hybrid war against Lithuania, against all of Europe,” Krasulina noted. “This is a war that Russia is waging against Europe, and we need to be aware of that. . . Liberating Belarus will ensure Lithuania has a stable neighbor and allow Belarus to join a sustainable security system across the region and Europe.”
Tensions between Belarus and Lithuania over cigarette-smuggling balloons have been rising since mid-October, forcing Lithuanian authorities to briefly close the border on several occasions and suspend operations at Vilnius Airport, located close to the Belarusian border.
Last week, Lithuanian Interior Minister Vladislav Kondratovič said that nearly 600 weather balloons and 197 drones had been spotted in Lithuania since January, with tensions rising significantly since October. The incidents disrupted hundreds of flights.
Vilnius is looking forward to the arrival of the NATO support group for repelling hybrid attacks, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys told NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte in a phone call four days ago.
Minsk is not combating smugglers and is deliberately attacking Vilnius Airport with contraband balloons in order to disrupt its operations, Budrys noted.
