Lithuanian Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene spoke at a press conference in Warsaw, Poland, on Oct. 7. On Monday, she announced that Lithuania would close its border with Belarus after several balloons have invaded her country’s airspace. Photo by Pawel Supernak/EPA
Oct. 27 (UPI) — Lithuania will close its border with Belarus after balloons have continued to breach its airspace, Prime Minister Inga Ruginienė said Monday.
She said Lithuania will shoot down any balloons that enter the country.
“We are sending a signal to Belarus that no hybrid attack will be tolerated, and we are taking the strictest measures to stop such attacks,” Ruginienė said. “The armed forces will take all necessary measures, including kinetic measures to shoot down the balloons.”
The balloons are believed to be a tool of smugglers, which bring contraband cigarettes into the country. The border will stay open for EU nationals leaving Belarus and for diplomats.
Lithuania has had to shut down airspace over Vilnius for balloon intrusion at least four times last week and three times over the weekend. There were 170 flights disrupted.
Though the balloons aren’t sent by the government, Lithuania blames Belorussian President Alexander Lukashenko for his lack of action.
“Inaction is also an action,” Ruginienė said after a meeting of the National Security Commission on Monday. “If Belarus does nothing about it and does not fight, we also assess these actions accordingly.”
Lithuania is a member of NATO. Lukashenko is an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
On Sunday night, the National Crisis Management Center said its radar detected 66 objects traveling from Belarus to Lithuania.
Lithuania Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys said on X Monday that NATO was facing a “deliberate escalation of hybrid warfare from Russia and its proxy, Belarus,” calling recent airspace incursions, “calculated provocations designed to destabilize, distract and test NATO’s resolve.”
A Russian Sukhoi SU-30 fighter and an IL-78 tanker plane flew a half a mile into Lithuanian territory on Oct. 23, according to the country’s ministry of foreign affairs. It had departed from the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad, which shares borders with Lithuania and Poland.
Ruginienė said her country will push for more sanctions on Belarus at the European Union level. She also wouldn’t rule out invoking Article 4 of NATO, which calls for urgent discussions with allies when a member fears risk to its security.