Lithuania expects Belarus to honour its pledge to stop smuggler balloons from flying into Lithuanian airspace, Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys stated, BNS reports. Earlier, US President Donald Trump’s special envoy, John Coale, announced that Belarusian leader Alyaksandr Lukashenka had promised to halt the balloon incursions. Budrys warned that failure to honour the pledge would affect “all aspects of the bilateral relationship” between Belarus and the US. He noted that the Belarusian regime was not seeking dialogue, but to break its political isolation.
Meanwhile, the Lithuanian parliament, the Seimas, postponed a resolution that would label the balloon incursions as a hybrid attack against Lithuania, BNS reported. Seimas speaker Juozas Olekas suggested that security issues could be pursued through diplomacy instead. At the same time, the European Parliament condemned Belarus for its escalating campaign of “deliberate, coordinated, and hostile” hybrid attacks against Lithuania and the EU, ELTA reported. Also, MEPs criticised the uncoordinated US decision to lift some sanctions on Belarus.