Smuggling balloons trigger Lithuanian response

“After the state of emergency is declared, we will be able to cooperate more closely, as soldiers will gain certain special powers that will allow them to operate more effectively, both jointly with officers of the Ministry of the Interior and independently,” noted Władysław Kondratowicz, head of the Lithuanian Ministry of the Interior.

The introduction of the state of emergency was announced on Friday (December 5) by Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene.

According to data from the Lithuanian Ministry of the Interior, this year there have been approximately 600 recorded cases of airspace violations by smuggling balloons coming from Belarus and 197 by drones.

Due to the balloons, Vilnius Airport was closed several times in October and November. The most recent such incident occurred last Saturday evening.

The suspension of airport operations because of the balloons has so far affected more than 320 flights and over 45,000 passengers in total, accounting for about 5 percent of all passengers served during that period.

According to Lithuanian authorities, the balloons are being launched from Belarus by cigarette smugglers, and the Belarusian government bears responsibility for failing to stop this activity. The Lithuanian government considers these incidents to be hybrid attacks. Prime Minister Ruginiene stated on December 4 that such actions by Minsk could also be regarded as acts of terror.

As reported by the Lithuanian government, in order to prevent a hybrid attack, “the services are operating under modified cooperation algorithms, and the decision-making time has been shortened.” (…) “Border Guard officers are directly supported by the military, which is testing possible methods of target neutralization and participating in airspace surveillance.”