Lithuania is being targeted by Belarus, the Baltic nation’s president has claimed
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda has claimed that the Belarusian State Security Committee (KGB) is behind the controversial wave of balloons that have caused security chaos and triggered border closures in the NATO member.
Earlier this week, Vilnius warned that it could indefinitely suspend border crossings with Belarus after a series of incidents involving small weather balloons, allegedly used by smugglers to ferry tobacco products, violating Lithuania’s airspace.
Nauseda claimed during a government meeting on Tuesday that the incursions were not just smuggling attempts, but “a hybrid attack against Lithuania.”
“We have a lot of evidence, both direct and indirect, that it is a deliberate act aimed at destabilizing the situation,” he said, as cited by media outlet Delfi.
The Lithuanian leader alleged that nothing happens in Belarus without the knowledge of the government of President Alexander Lukashenko, and “therefore, it is quite obvious that special services, the KGB, are involved [in the illegal cigarette business].”
Around a quarter of tobacco products being sold in Lithuania are contraband, with the profits being used to finance Lukashenko’s government, Nauseda claimed.
“We will definitely not tolerate the incursions by hot air balloons and the Lithuanian Armed Forces are ready to shoot them down,” he added.
Lukashenko accused the authorities in Vilnius of using the balloon incidents as a pretext to prevent guests from coming to the Minsk International Conference on Eurasian Security, which took place in the Belarusian capital on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The “crazy scam” with the closure of the border is “too petty even for such a petty country as Lithuania,” he said on the opening day of the event.
However, the Belarusian leader added that Minsk is ready to discuss the balloon incidents with Vilnius and even apologize if “we are persuaded that we are to blame.”
Lithuania, Poland, and other EU nations have repeatedly claimed that Belarus, which is a close ally of Russia, has been waging “hybrid operations” against the bloc, including in 2021 when Minsk was accused of facilitating the movement of migrants across its borders. Lukashenko’s government has resolutely denied the allegations.
