{"id":161869,"date":"2025-10-28T12:04:27","date_gmt":"2025-10-28T09:04:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/161869\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T20:40:57","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T20:40:57","slug":"eu-backs-lithuania-amid-belarus-balloons-provocation","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/161869\/","title":{"rendered":"EU backs Lithuania amid Belarus balloons \u201cprovocation\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n (ec.europa.eu)<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

October 28, Pozirk.<\/em><\/strong> 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

European Council President Ant\u00f3nio Costa condemned<\/a> Minsk\u2019s “persistent and provocative actions” against the EU and its member states, noting that the hybrid activities must stop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBelarus must prevent further incidents,\u201d the politician stated on X. \u201cThe EU will continue to put pressure on the regime for its complicity in Russia\u2019s war against Ukraine, and will support the protection of the EU\u2019s eastern border.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called<\/a> the incursions “destabilisation” and “provocation.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEurope stands in full solidarity with Lithuania in the face of the persistent incursions of helium smuggling balloons into its airspace,\u201d the politician stressed. She warned that Europe will not tolerate this \u201chybrid threat.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is yet another reason to accelerate our flagships – the Eastern Flank Watch and the European drone defense initiative,\u201d the Commission president said in a post on X.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On October 26, at least 66 flying objects were recorded entering Lithuanian airspace \u2013 roughly twice as many as on October 25, according to Vilmantas Vitkauskas, head of the Lithuanian National Crisis Management Center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On October 27, Lithuania reacted by closing down the \u0160al\u010dininkai 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Border crossings in Medininkai and \u0160al\u010dininkai were the only two checkpoints handling all cross-border traffic between Lithuania and Belarus after Vilnius closed \u0160umskas and Tvere\u010dius crossings in 2023 and Lavori\u0161k\u0117s and Raigardas in 2024, citing national security and smuggling among the reasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Minsk, Vilnius in diplomatic spat over balloon smuggling<\/h3>\n
October 27, Pozirk. Lithuania has lodged another strong protest to Belarus over repeated airspace violations involving balloons used to smuggle cigarettes from Belarusian territory. \u201cLithuania considers the deliberate inaction of the institutions of Belarus to be a hybrid attack and …<\/div>\n \n