Litauen ruft wegen Ballons aus Weißrussland den Ausnahmezustand aus

*From Bloomberg News reporter Milda Seputyte*

The Lithuanian government has declared a state of emergency over weather balloons that continue to drift over the border from Belarus, creating risks for civil aviation.

The emergency status will allow the government of the Baltic nation to employ a broader range of resources and engage more institutions to combat the balloon attacks and deploy military to the border.

The Lithuanian government considers the incidents a hybrid attack orchestrated by the regime of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko as contraband-laden balloons continue crossing the border, repeatedly forcing the closure of the airport in the capital Vilnius. Weather balloons have become a frequent method to deliver illegal cigarettes into the European Union.

As a Lithuanian, this is such a fucked up situation. Vilnius is only 30km away from the border of Belarus. These „balloons carrying cigarettes“ are becoming an almost daily occurance, closing off the airport and rerouting planes to Riga (and soon, Kaunas), costing money, but not enough to make shooting these balloons worthwhile.

It feels like only a matter of time before a huge drone terror attack with drones being dropped (and coordinated) from balloons is gonna happen. There currently is little defense against 100s of (semi)autonomous drones being dropped from above at once. It is a really cheap and effective strategy and hard to counter.

If there’s only 98, we’re fine…