Lithuania officially appealed to ICAO regarding Belarusian contraband balloons
Lithuania has submitted evidence to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) regarding incidents caused by contraband balloons launched from the territory of Belarus, reports vz.lt.
Contraband air balloons | Photo by VRM
Lithuanian Prime Minister Inga Ruginienė stated that these are not isolated cases, but repetitive actions that pose a risk to civil aviation and international aviation safety. Lithuania expects a clear assessment of the situation and a principled response from ICAO.
Lithuanian Minister of Transport Juras Taminskas noted that there are signs that ICAO may recognize these actions by Belarus as a hybrid attack. This could supposedly be a major political blow to Alexander Lukashenka's regime, which tries to present itself as open to international cooperation, although it factually avoids acknowledging violations of international aviation law.
The Lithuanian minister also noted that this could help in the possible introduction of additional sanctions against Minsk, as official recognition by ICAO would highlight violations of international law.
Data on incidents has been collected since last October. According to the Lithuanian Ministry of Transport, since then there have been at least 16 airspace violations, affecting over 370 flights and approximately 53,000 passengers, with total losses exceeding 2.3 million euros.
Due to the threat of contraband balloons, Finnish airline Finnair canceled an evening flight between Vilnius and Helsinki last December, but Juras Taminskas reported that the flight will resume on March 1.
In mid-December 2025, the Lithuanian government declared a state of emergency due to contraband air balloons that hindered airport operations and posed a risk to civil aviation. Earlier, in October, the border with Belarus was temporarily closed.
Since last autumn, Lithuanian services have checked about 50,000 people, 38,000 vehicles, confiscated about 100 balloons, and found 234,000 packs of cigarettes. The reduction in the number of incidents in mid-December is attributed to the visit of US presidential representative John Cole to Belarus, after which Lukashenka promised to stop launching contraband air balloons.
Lithuanian authorities consider these balloon incursions a hybrid attack from Minsk.
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