Lithuanian Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene announced that the country will start shooting down smuggling balloons that cross the bordercoming from Belarus. It is a step forward in the irritation of Lithuanians, who this Sunday they decided to close the airspace due to the detection of these balloons in Baltic airspace for the third consecutive night.
Citing the National Crisis Management Center as a source, Lithuanian state radio and television reported on Sunday night that “Lithuania would close its border with Belarus indefinitely.”
The decision was taken after Vilnius airport announced, around 8 pm, that had suspended all flight operations due to weather balloons, allegedly used for cigarette smugglingwhich were flying towards Lithuanian airspace from Belarus.
Although the airport in the Lithuanian capital indicated on its website that it expected to resume operations at around 11:40 p.m.meanwhile the Lithuanian Ministry of the Interior, responsible for the Border Guard Service, published a statement that announced it would go further in reacting to the “incidents” with balloons, which, just this week, according to Reuters, were responsible for interrupt the flow of planes four times.
In the statement, Lithuania directly blamed Belarus and President Alexander Lukashenko for failing to stop the practice – something Lukashenko has yet to respond to. The Ministry also stated that “the number of smuggling balloons detected in 2025 (557) is more than double that in 2024 (226)”.
The Prime Minister of Lithuania called for the sending of balloons “hybrid attacks”reports Reuters, and stated that the only exception to the closure of borders with the neighboring country are travel by diplomats and European Union citizens leaving Belarus.
In a conference this Monday morning, Ruginiene also left open the possibility of invoking NATO meetingsthrough Article 4, which allows countries to come together when one of them feels its territorial integrity is threatened.
Later, according to the newspaper “The Guardian”, the head of government has already announced that won’t do it.
The procedure has been used only nine times in NATO’s history, but has been used recently by Poland and Estonia following two cases of airspace violations in September by Russia.
However, the European Union has already reacted. EU transport spokeswoman Anna-Kaisa Itkonen said the commission is “aware” of the incidents and disruptions they have caused at Vilnius airport, but refuses to elaborate on any causes.
Decision comes four days after alleged airspace violation by Russia
The incident comes just four days after the Lithuanian Ministry of Defense accuse Moscow of airspace violationon the border with Russia and Belarus, after another case that led to activation of two Spanish NATO Eurofighter fighters.
The Lithuanian Armed Forces detected the entry of two Russian aircraft into Lithuanian airspace, for 18 seconds and at a height of 700 meters, from the Kaliningrad enclave, located in the west of the Baltic country.
In response, two Spanish Eurofighter fighters, which are part of NATO’s air policing mission, took off and patrolled the area.
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda condemned a “flagrant violation of international law and Lithuania’s territorial integrity”appealed for a response from European partners and announced that he would convene the Russian ambassador to protest the “reckless and dangerous behavior”.
80% of cigarettes imported from Belarus are contraband
Only in 2025, more than 1.1 million packs of cigarettes transported by air were seizedof which around 800 thousand were transported in balloons.
“Between January and September 2025, four out of every five (80.1%) of cigarettes imported from Belarus to Lithuania were transported by air, using balloons or other unmanned aerial vehicles,” the Lithuanian Ministry of the Interior further indicated.
According to Lithuanian media, shipments of smuggled cigarettes suspended in balloons often include a SIM card so recipients can locate them. This also allowed Lithuanian police to find the place where smuggled cargo lands and detain the people who collect it.
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