Lithuania to close border with Belarus ‘indefinitely’ amid repeated balloon incursions

Lithuania plans to close its border with Belarus “indefinitely” after balloons containing contraband cigarettes were released into Lithuanian airspace from Belarusian territory, Lithuanian Prime Minister Inga Ruginienė announced on Monday.

The only two operational border crossings between Lithuania and Belarus have been closed since Sunday evening following earlier reports of so-called “smuggling balloons” by Lithuania’s State Border Guard Service, which also caused disruptions at Vilnius Airport. The checkpoints had also been closed for several hours on Friday and Saturday.

A draft order to close the border that would allow very limited exceptions for Lithuanian and EU citizens entering the country from Belarus, is due to be considered by the government on Wednesday, Ruginienė said. “All other movement will be halted. This sends a clear signal to Belarus that no hybrid attack will be tolerated here, and we will take the strictest possible measures to stop such actions,” she added.

The balloon incident is the latest in a series of crossborder provocations and airspace violations that have been carried out along the Russian and Belarusian borders with NATO members over the past few months.

On 23 October, Vilnius summoned Russian diplomats following the incursion of Russian fighter jets into its airspace, which itself followed Russian drones entering Polish airspace, and three Russian fighter jets violating Estonian airspace.

Beyond airspace violations, Moscow and Minsk have used other hybrid tactics against their Western neighbours, notably in Latvia and Poland, including facilitating cross-border migrant flows to overwhelm border posts and create political pressure, alleged attacks on underwater infrastructure in the Baltic Sea, and deploying armed guards near sensitive crossing points in Estonia to intimidate local communities and raise tensions.