October 28, Pozirk. Top EU officials have expressed solidarity with Lithuania after it closed its border with Belarus in response to incursions by weather balloons carrying smuggled cigarettes.
European Council President António Costa condemned Minsk’s “persistent and provocative actions” against the EU and its member states, noting that the hybrid activities must stop.
“Belarus must prevent further incidents,” the politician stated on X. “The EU will continue to put pressure on the regime for its complicity in Russia’s war against Ukraine, and will support the protection of the EU’s eastern border.”
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called the incursions “destabilisation” and “provocation.”
“Europe stands in full solidarity with Lithuania in the face of the persistent incursions of helium smuggling balloons into its airspace,” the politician stressed. She warned that Europe will not tolerate this “hybrid threat.”
“This is yet another reason to accelerate our flagships – the Eastern Flank Watch and the European drone defense initiative,” the Commission president said in a post on X.
Tensions over cigarette-smuggling balloons have been rising since October 22, forcing Lithuanian authorities to briefly close the border on several occasions and suspend operations at Vilnius Airport, located close to the Belarusian border.
On October 26, at least 66 flying objects were recorded entering Lithuanian airspace – roughly twice as many as on October 25, according to Vilmantas Vitkauskas, head of the Lithuanian National Crisis Management Center.
On October 27, Lithuania reacted by closing down the Šalčininkai border crossing on the shared border with Belarus for an indefinite period and restricting traffic through the Medininkai crossing. Only Lithuanians, EU citizens, their family members and holders of Lithuanian residence permits returning from Belarus are allowed to travel.
Border crossings in Medininkai and Šalčininkai were the only two checkpoints handling all cross-border traffic between Lithuania and Belarus after Vilnius closed Šumskas and Tverečius crossings in 2023 and Lavoriškės and Raigardas in 2024, citing national security and smuggling among the reasons.
