Lithuania says it will shoot down smuggling balloons from Russia’s ally Belarus | Lithuania

Lithuania’s prime minister authorized the shooting down of smuggling balloons crossing the border from Russia’s ally Belarus, describing them as “hybrid attacks”, an echo of the term used to describe Moscow’s destabilization efforts.

Attacks by balloons carrying smuggled cigarettes led the NATO and EU member state to close Vilnius airport four times in the past week and temporarily close border crossings with Belarus.

“Today we decided to take the strictest measures, there is no other way,” Inga Ruginienė said on Monday, adding that her government could also discuss invoking Article 4 of the NATO treaty to call for security consultations.

Vilnius said the balloons were sent by smugglers but blamed Belarus’ authoritarian president Alexander Lukashenko, a close ally of Russian leader Vladimir Putin, for not stopping them.

Ruginienė said at a press conference that the incidents were “mixed attacks” and announced that Lithuania’s border crossings with Belarus were closed, except for the travel of diplomats and EU citizens leaving the neighboring country.

Flights in and out of Lithuania’s main airport were disrupted on Friday and Saturday night in the latest in a series of suspected sightings of cigarette smugglers’ balloons, prompting dozens of cancellations and diversions.

These incidents followed similar disruptions early last Wednesday morning and other recent ones, leading to the closure of Lithuania’s two border crossings with Belarus at Medininkai and Šalčininkai for several hours.

Lithuania, which borders Russia’s Kaliningrad region and Belarus, also summoned a Russian diplomat to protest last Thursday’s incident in which it said two Russian planes entered its airspace.

The country’s defense ministry said a Sukhoi SU-30 fighter jet and an IL-78 tanker from Kaliningrad passed 700 meters (2,300 ft) through Lithuanian airspace before departing 18 seconds later, possibly during aerial refueling training.

The foreign ministry said it summoned Russia’s chargé d’affaires and issued a “strong protest”, urging Moscow to immediately explain the reasons for the violation and take “all necessary measures to prevent such incidents from happening again”.

The Russian defense ministry denied that the attack took place. “The flights were carried out in strict compliance with the rules for using airspace over Russian territory. The aircraft… did not violate the borders of other states,” the statement said.

All three Baltic states, members of NATO and staunch supporters of Ukraine, have experienced violations of their territory by Russian aircraft or drones. Three Russian MiG-31 fighter jets spent 12 minutes in Estonian airspace in September.

European aviation has repeatedly been thrown into chaos in recent weeks by drone sightings and other air strikes, including at airports in Copenhagen, Munich and the Baltic region. Moscow has previously denied involvement in the incident.

Lithuanian foreign minister Kęstutis Budrys said on Monday that the latest airspace violations should not be seen as isolated incidents. “These are calculated provocations designed to destabilize and distract attention. [and] “Test NATO’s resolve,” he said.

Reuters and Agence France-Presse contributed to this report