Lithuania should “slightly de-escalate” tensions with Belarus, Deividas Matulionis, national security adviser to Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda, stated, LRT reported. Earlier, Belarus released 123 political prisoners in exchange for the US lifting sanctions on Belarusian potash fertilisers. Also, Belarus pledged to stop the incursion of smuggler balloons into Lithuanian airspace. Lithuania has halted transit shipments…
Lithuania will seek support from the European Union and the United States to pressure the Belarusian regime into stopping smuggler balloons from flying into Lithuanian airspace, Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene announced, LRT reports. She said that the Lithuanian government was prepared to impose national sanctions or reclose the border with Belarus if diplomatic efforts with…
Lithuania’s Foreign Ministry has lodged a formal protest with Belarus over continued “hybrid attacks” and seizure of property of EU citizens and companies, BNS reports. The ministry demanded that Belarus exercise effective control of its airspace and return “unlawfully detained” property, referring to incursions of smuggler balloons into Lithuania and the detention of Lithuanian trucks in…
The Lithuanian government has declared a nationwide emergency situation in response to repeated incursions of smuggler balloons from neighbouring Belarus into Lithuanian airspace, BNS reports. At the same time, the government proposed that the parliament, the Seimas, grant the Lithuanian Armed Forces (LGP) extended powers to assist law enforcement for three months. The balloon incursions…
Smuggler balloons from Belarus disrupted flights at Lithuania’s Vilnius International Airport (VIA) overnight on 4 October 2025, LRT reports. The National Crisis Management Centre (NKVC) reported that 25 meteorological balloons, most likely carrying smuggled cigarettes, entered Lithuanian airspace from Belarus. State-run airport operator Lietuvos Oro Uostai (LTOU) suspended flights at VIA at around 10pm on…
Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte clashed over the defence alliance’s response to Russia’s recent airspace violations, ERR reports, citing Fox News. After Russian fighter jets made a brazen incursion into Estonian airspace on 19 September 2025, Estonia requested consultations under Article 4 of the NATO treaty. Given that NATO…
Ukraine did not use Estonian airspace in its latest drone attack against Russia’s port of Ust-Luga in the Leningrad region, according to the Estonian Air Force (Õhuvägi), ERR reports. Aivar Hanniotti, coordinator of UAV operations at the Estonian Defence League (Kaitseliit), said that the flight path of the attack drone likely started from Ukraine’s Kyiv…
Defence ministers of the three Baltic States signed a declaration on joint defence of their airspace on the first day of the NATO summit in Lithuania’s capital, Vilnius, on 11 July 2023, LSM reports. According to the declaration, the Baltic States plan to strengthen cooperation in air defence. Also, the three countries will ensure that…