Lithuania has appealed to the European Commission for urgent help in recovering trucks stranded in Belarus and for new sanctions on Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s regime over a wave of “smuggler balloons” violating Lithuanian airspace and disrupting civilian aviation. In a joint letter to the Commission, Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys and Transport Minister Juras Taminskas call for a coordinated EU response that would address both the security threats at the Lithuanian-Belarusian border and the situation of European hauliers whose vehicles have been effectively taken hostage on Belarusian territory.
According to Lithuanian authorities, the country has for months been dealing with increasingly frequent incursions of meteorological and smuggler balloons launched from Belarus. These unmanned devices not only breach Lithuanian airspace but have repeatedly forced the closure of Vilnius airport and once also of Kaunas airport. In October and November alone, Vilnius airport was shut down ten times because of balloon incidents, while Kaunas faced at least one such closure. Over the past weekend, the situation escalated further when radar operators detected a record number of suspicious objects – around 60 targets with characteristics typical for balloons – prompting another eight-hour suspension of operations at Vilnius.
Budrys and Taminskas argue that these activities are a deliberate hybrid tactic aimed at destabilising Lithuania and testing the EU’s response threshold. In their letter, they urge the Commission to develop and present “a coherent EU action plan” to support European carriers in Belarus and to tackle the broader security problem at the Lithuanian-Belarusian border created by drones and smuggler balloons. They ask EU foreign policy and transport commissioners to demand, at EU level, the full and unconditional release of European transport companies and their assets “illegally detained” on the Belarusian side, and to initiate new sanctions targeting those responsible for the balloon operations and other hostile acts.
The balloon issue is intertwined with a parallel standoff over road transport. At the end of October, Lithuania temporarily closed its border with Belarus in response to the mounting balloon incidents and wider security concerns. After several weeks, Vilnius reopened the crossing, judging that the immediate security situation no longer justified a full closure. Minsk, however, has continued to block the departure of Lithuanian trucks that happened to be on Belarusian territory when the border was shut. Belarusian authorities now insist that the matter be resolved through high-level consultations between the two countries’ foreign ministries.
The Lithuanian government has refused this demand, with Minister Budrys warning that such talks would hand Minsk an opportunity to break out of its political isolation and portray itself as a legitimate partner in negotiations with the European Union. Instead, Vilnius insists that Belarus must simply allow the trucks to leave and comply with international norms governing the treatment of foreign carriers. Official Lithuanian figures suggest that around 280 trucks are currently stuck in Belarus, while the national road transport association Linava believes the true number may be in the low thousands.
Lithuanian hauliers’ associations report that companies have received formal warnings from the Belarusian side stating that vehicles parked on designated lots for more than four months risk being confiscated. For transport firms already under financial strain, the prospect of losing trucks and cargo outright would be devastating. Vilnius therefore sees the situation not only as a bilateral dispute, but as an EU-level challenge affecting the integrity of the single market and the security of European supply chains.
By internationalising the crisis and appealing directly to the European Commission, Lithuania is seeking both political backing and concrete measures. New EU sanctions in response to airspace violations and the detention of trucks would raise the costs for Minsk of its hybrid tactics. At the same time, a common EU position on supporting transport companies and protecting external borders would signal that the Union is prepared to respond collectively when a member state is targeted. For Vilnius, the message is clear: the combination of smuggler balloons over its skies and trapped trucks on Belarusian soil is not an isolated quarrel with a neighbour, but part of a broader confrontation between the EU and a regime that has aligned itself closely with Russia’s strategy of pressure and destabilisation.
