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The Baltic nation plans to intercept and destroy helium balloons carrying contraband tobacco across the border, government officials confirmed.

This action responds after balloons entering Lithuanian airspace disrupted air traffic repeatedly in recent days, affecting holiday travel, with the government also closing frontier checkpoints during these events.

Frontier crossing points remain suspended indefinitely following repeated balloon incursions.

According to official declarations, "authorities will not hesitate to employ even the most severe actions against airspace violations."

Official Measures

Outlining the strategy to media, officials stated defense units were executing "complete operational protocols" to eliminate aerial threats.

Concerning border measures, Ruginiene said diplomats will still be able to travel across the international border, and EU citizens and Lithuanians can enter from Belarus, though all other travel remains prohibited.

"Through these actions, we communicate to the neighboring nation declaring that unconventional threats won't be accepted across our nation, employing comprehensive defensive actions to halt these operations," the Prime Minister emphasized.

There has been no immediate response from Minsk officials.

Diplomatic Measures

Authorities will discuss with international allies about the security challenges presented while potentially considering invocation of Nato's Article 4 - a provision enabling alliance discussion regarding security matters, specifically concerning defense matters - officials noted.

Flight Cancellations

Lithuanian airports were closed three times during holiday periods from balloon incidents crossing the international border, disrupting air transport and passenger movement, based on regional media reports.

During the current month, 25 balloons entered Lithuania from Belarus, resulting in numerous canceled flights and passenger inconveniences, per national security agency reports.

These incidents continue previous patterns: by autumn measurements, 544 balloons were recorded entering Lithuania from Belarus this year, per government spokesperson comments, with nearly thousand incidents during previous year.

International Perspective

Other European airports - covering northern and central European sites - have also been affected by air incursions, with unauthorized drone observations, during current period.