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Lithuania’s Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budris told Euronews in an interview that defending its eastern flank is now a matter of Europe’s survival, after a series of air attacks put member states from the Baltic states to Poland on high alert.
Interference with Europe’s airspace by drones, balloons and other flying objects has been condemned by several countries as a deliberate act to provoke and destabilize the region.
Over the weekend, Lithuania was forced to close its Vilnius airport after a large balloon was intercepted entering its airspace. Poland, Denmark, Romania and Estonia have also recorded drone incursions into their territory.
“We should at least treat them as hybrid threats,” Badriz told Euronews. “We are dealing with organized crime coming from Belarus. If it cannot be deterred by denial, it should be deterred by punishment.”
Lithuania wants the European Union to impose broader aviation and banking sanctions on Belarus and to strengthen its eastern defense capabilities to thwart hybrid threats from the air. Minsk is already facing harsh sanctions from the EU for supporting Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine.
But Vilnius insists it is time to go a step further and send a coordinated message to Minsk.
“This is a hybrid attack against member states and we want to strengthen the sanctions regime,” Badriz said.
“As a first step, we should add hybrid threats to the sanctions criteria. We are not here for Russia, we are not here for Belarus. The Belarusian regime should feel the consequences of its actions, and it is our duty to respond.”
Lithuania claims that the large balloons used for the illegal cigarette trade are part of a Belarusian campaign aimed at disrupting civil aviation, stirring up public unrest and ultimately reducing support for Ukraine.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen echoed these concerns in a speech to the European Parliament this month, claiming that “something new and dangerous is happening in our skies” aimed at testing Europe’s resolve as Russia continues its war.
She described the incidents in Lithuania as “a provocation, a compounded threat and cannot be tolerated” and the Lithuanian government welcomed the move.
“Existential threat”
The EU first imposed sanctions on the country in 2020 after autocratic leader Aliaksandr Lukashenka was accused of rigging an election, which the opposition claims was rigged and stolen from his rival, Sviatlana Tikhanovskaya, who is currently in exile.
Brussels imposed further sanctions on Belarus after Russia made a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in early 2022 and used Belarus as a launching pad for military operations against Kiev.
Sanctions have since intensified, with new restrictions included in the 19th package approved by the EU earlier this month. But experts say diversions from Belarus to Russia are still occurring.
Russia and Belarus maintain close ties, but Lithuania said it was too early to say whether Russia was supporting Belarus’ balloon launch. The border between Lithuania and Belarus has been closed indefinitely.
“We would need more data to claim that this was done in perfect coordination,” Badriz told Euronews. “I’m not going to speculate on that until we have the full details.”
In the face of a series of disruptions, member states that border Russia or Belarus, or are considered most at risk, are calling for further deployment of anti-drone capabilities.
The European Commission presented a plan, initially named “Drone Wall” (later renamed the European Drone Initiative), to strengthen these capabilities. The proposal received mixed reactions from southern European member states, who considered it unfeasible as well as too focused on the East with little attention to the Mediterranean.
“What is more important for Europe right now than security? If we cannot provide security for our people, everything else does not matter,” he said. “This is existential.”