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Authorized institutions discussed additional action to ensure airspace and civil aviation safety

Republic of Lithuania - Ministry of National Defence

2025-10-26
Development and Strengthening of the Armed Forces | Security and defense policy

Minister of National Defence ad interim Minister of the Interior Vladislavas Kondratovičius met with Chief of Defence General Raimundas Vaikšnoras, leadership and representatives of statutory services of internal affairs at the Ministry of National Defence. The meeting was convened to address the concerns and potential solutions regarding the hot-air smugglers' balloons sent to Lithuania from Belarus over the weekend which had disrupted airport operation.

The meeting conclude with decisions on additional action and tighter cooperation among all public security services and the Lithuanian Armed Forces. Also, a Government-level Task Force of criminal intelligence and state security institutions.

Another point of discussion was airspace control, a parallel issue addressed to be able to see a wider security context. The institution in charge of the Lithuanian airspace control is the Lithuanian Armed Forces, however, the state aims for a unified airspace developed by the Lithuanian Armed Forces, State Border Guard Service and Public Security Service.

The meeting officials also discussed closing the border with Belarus for an extended period of time. The possibility of this measure will be weight in detail Monday at the National Security Commission chaired by Prime Minister Inga Ruginienė.

The Ministry of the Interior has recently formulated and tabled for inter-institutional approval amendments to the Criminal Code to include responsibility for threats to the civil aviation (thus filling in a gap) and more strict responsibility for smuggling by air (as increased-risk smuggling).

The Services have intensified their criminal intelligence to identify the smuggling sources. All cases of airborne smuggling (balloons, UAVs, drones, and such) is investigated as organized crime activity.

Generally, drone activity has significantly dropped this year from 839 in 2024 to 174 but successful grounding rates have improved. Identified smuggling cases in 2025 stands at 557 significantly surpassing 2024 (with 226 cases).

In the period from January to September of 2025, four fifth parts (80.1%) of cigarettes smuggled to Lithuania from Belarus came by means of hot-air balloons or other unmanned aerial vehicles. In total, over 1.1 billion airborne packs of cigarettes were arrested this year, approx. 800 thousand - by hot-air balloons.