{"id":166951,"date":"2025-12-05T11:46:29","date_gmt":"2025-12-05T08:46:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/166951\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T12:05:06","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T12:05:06","slug":"lithuania-weighs-state-of-emergency-amid-belarus-balloon-incursions","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/166951\/","title":{"rendered":"Lithuania weighs state of emergency amid Belarus balloon incursions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"block-image block-image-normal\">\n\n  <img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"667\" src=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/flag_litva_evroflag_by.jpg\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/flag_litva_evroflag_by.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/flag_litva_evroflag_by-354x236.jpg 354w, https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/flag_litva_evroflag_by-734x490.jpg 734w, https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/flag_litva_evroflag_by-178x118.jpg 178w, https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/flag_litva_evroflag_by-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/>\n  <figcaption>\n  \n       <div class=\"block-image__author\">\n                <span>(evroflag.by)<\/span>\n    <\/div>\n     <\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>December 5, <em>Pozirk.<\/em><\/strong> The Lithuanian government is preparing to declare a state of emergency as balloon incursions from Belarus threaten public security, Ignas Dobrovolskas, advisor to the Lithuanian prime minister, has told <em>ELTA<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The official did not comment on whether the decision can be made as early as today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The comment came as cigarette-smuggling balloons keep disrupting civil aviation in Lithuania. The Vilnius International Airport, located close to the Belarusian border, has had to suspend operations on numerous occasions since mid-October over airspace violations from Belarus. The most recent incident was reported on the night of December 4.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Earlier this week, Lithuanian Interior Minister Vladislav Kondratovi\u010d said that nearly 600 cigarette-smuggling weather balloons and 197 drones have been spotted in Lithuania since January, with tensions rising significantly since October. The incidents disrupted hundreds of flights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Vilnius is looking forward to the arrival of the NATO support group for repelling hybrid attacks, Lithuanian Foreign Minister K\u0119stutis Budrys told NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte in a phone call yesterday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Minsk is not combating smugglers and is deliberately attacking Vilnius Airport with contraband balloons in order to disrupt its operations, Budrys said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In recent days, Lithuanian law enforcers and border guards have carried out large-scale raids, seizing smuggled Belarusian cigarettes and arresting suspects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"insert-block\">\n\n    <div class=\"insert-block__img\">\n        <img decoding=\"async\" width=\"354\" height=\"236\" src=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/granica-litva-gpk-354x236.jpg\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/granica-litva-gpk-354x236.jpg 354w, https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/granica-litva-gpk-734x490.jpg 734w, https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/granica-litva-gpk-178x118.jpg 178w, https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/granica-litva-gpk-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/granica-litva-gpk.jpg 1128w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 354px) 100vw, 354px\" \/>                        <label class=\"insert-block__tag--mobile\"> \u042d\u043a\u043e\u043d\u043e\u043c\u0438\u043a\u0430<\/label>\n\n                            <label class=\"insert-block__tag--mobile\"> Security<\/label>\n\n                <\/div>\n    <div class=\"insert-block__text\">\n                    <label class=\"insert-block__tag\">\u042d\u043a\u043e\u043d\u043e\u043c\u0438\u043a\u0430, Security<\/label>\n                <h3 class=\"insert-block__title\">Lithuanian police retrieve 19 balloons used by smugglers in a week<\/h3>\n        <div class=\"insert-block__descr\">December 4,\u00a0Pozirk.\u00a0Lithuanian police retrieved within a week 19 weather balloons used by cigarette smugglers, seizing 35,000 packs of cigarettes, ELTA reported quoting Police Commissioner General Ar\u016bnas\u00a0Paulauskas. Police pulled over more than 4,500 vehicles and checked about 5,700 people.<\/div>\n        <a class=\"insert-block__btn-block\" href=\"\/en\/news\/166863\">\n            <button class=\"btn\">\n                <div class='btn__text'>Read the article<\/div>\n            <\/button>\n        <\/a>\n    <\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>December 5, Pozirk. The Lithuanian government is preparing to declare a state of emergency as balloon incursions from Belarus threaten public security, Ignas Dobrovolskas, advisor to the Lithuanian prime minister, has told ELTA. The official did not comment on whether the decision can be made as early as today. The comment came as cigarette-smuggling balloons [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":73310,"template":"","rubric":[16,30],"class_list":["post-166951","articles","type-articles","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","rubric-politics","rubric-security"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Lithuania weighs state of emergency amid Belarus balloon incursions | Pozirk<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"December 5, Pozirk. The Lithuanian government is preparing to declare a state of emergency as balloon incursions from Belarus threaten public security,\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/166951\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lithuania weighs state of emergency amid Belarus balloon incursions | Pozirk\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"December 5, Pozirk. The Lithuanian government is preparing to declare a state of emergency as balloon incursions from Belarus threaten public security,\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/166951\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Pozirk\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pozirkonline\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-03-10T12:05:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/flag_litva_evroflag_by.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"667\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Pozirk_online\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/166951\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/166951\/\"},\"headline\":\"Lithuania weighs state of emergency amid Belarus balloon incursions\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-05T08:46:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-10T12:05:06+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/166951\/\"},\"wordCount\":215,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/166951\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/flag_litva_evroflag_by.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/166951\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/166951\/\",\"name\":\"Lithuania weighs state of emergency amid Belarus balloon incursions | Pozirk\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/166951\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/166951\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/flag_litva_evroflag_by.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-05T08:46:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-10T12:05:06+00:00\",\"description\":\"December 5, Pozirk. 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