Lithuania Accuses Belarusian KGB of ‘Hybrid Attack’ Using Balloons

By Staff, Agencies

Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda has accused Belarus’s State Security Committee (KGB) of orchestrating recent airspace violations involving small balloons, calling the incidents a “hybrid attack” aimed at destabilizing Lithuania.

The controversy erupted after Vilnius reported multiple incursions by small weather balloons allegedly used to smuggle tobacco products from Belarus.

Authorities warned that Lithuania could indefinitely close its border crossings with its eastern neighbor if the violations persist.

Speaking at a government meeting on Tuesday, Nauseda said the incidents were “not mere smuggling attempts” but a coordinated operation with political motives.

“We have direct and indirect evidence that this is a deliberate act,” he said, claiming that the KGB and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko’s government are involved in the illicit trade.

Nauseda added that contraband tobacco accounts for about a quarter of all cigarette sales in Lithuania, with proceeds allegedly funding the Lukashenko regime.

He warned that the Lithuanian Armed Forces are prepared to shoot down any future balloon incursions.

Lukashenko, in turn, dismissed the accusations as a “crazy scam,” accusing Vilnius of using the incidents as a pretext to disrupt the Minsk International Conference on Eurasian Security, which began Tuesday.

He said Belarus is open to dialogue with Lithuania and would apologize if proven responsible, but ridiculed the border closure threat as “too petty even for such a petty country as Lithuania.”