Lithuania’s President Proposes Restricting Transit to Kaliningrad Amid Smuggling Threats
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda has proposed considering the possibility of a prolonged closure of the border with Belarus and restrictions on transit to Kaliningrad due to a series of incidents involving Belarusian weather balloons used for smuggling.
The Gaze reports on it, referring to LRT.
According to Nausėda, the recent incidents involving balloons carrying contraband goods and causing disruptions at Lithuanian airports should be seen as part of a hybrid attack against Lithuania.
“The President assesses the incidents of recent days and the disruptions at airports as a hybrid attack on Lithuania, which must be responded to with both symmetrical and asymmetrical measures. In the coming days, the government will propose ways to respond,” reads a statement from the Presidential Administration, quoted by the BNS agency.
In particular, among the possible actions being considered are closing the border with Belarus for an extended period and restricting transit to Kaliningrad. An interagency meeting is scheduled for Tuesday to discuss these issues.
Contraband weather balloons have recently become one of the main channels for the illegal transport of cigarettes from Belarus.
Due to such incidents, Lithuania has temporarily closed border crossing points several times, as well as installed a physical barrier and strengthened border security.
On October 25, Lithuania temporarily closed Vilnius Airport and its border crossings with Belarus after helium weather balloons entered its airspace for the second consecutive day. Authorities said the balloons, used by smugglers to transport contraband cigarettes, repeatedly disrupted air traffic in recent weeks.
Vilnius blamed Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko for failing to prevent such incidents, while Prime Minister Inga Ruginienė announced that the National Security Commission would meet to assess the growing security risks.
As The Gaze informed earlier, Lithuania announced the reinforcement of security along its borders and deployment of additional personnel ahead of the Russian-Belarusian Zapad-2025 military exercises.
Officials noted that Lithuanian border forces had operated under heightened alert since 2021, when tensions with Moscow and Minsk escalated.
Read more on The Gaze: Exercise “West-2025” as a Risk of Provocations Against Eastern European Countries