Alexander Lukashenko

Oct. 29 (UPI) — The European Union on Wednesday condemned Belarus for “unacceptable” incursions of meteorological balloons into Lithuanian airspace.

“The EU strongly condemns Belarus’ persistent and provocative actions against the EU and its member states which are unacceptable,” the European Council said in a statement, adding that their continued incursions contradict previous declarations by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko seeking to improve relations with the bloc.

The balloons have disrupted hundreds of flights and caused “substantial” losses to Lithuanian airports, which the European Council said risks destabilizing the country. It alleged that the balloons are an attempt to “intimidate” the European country.

While smugglers are thought to use balloons to transport illegal cigarettes into the country, the Lithuanian government and the EU have placed blame on Lukashenko.

On Monday, Lithuanian Prime Minister Inga Ruginienė said the country would close its borders with Belarus except to diplomats and EU nationals leaving Belarus. She also said that the NATO country would shoot down any balloons that enter its airspace.

“These balloons are not merely smuggling tools but occur in the context of a broader targeted hybrid campaign, along with other actions that also include state-sponsored migrant smuggling,” the European Council said in its statement.

“All these actions must stop immediately. We call on the Belarusian regime to adopt without further delay effective measures to control its airspace, state border and territory, and fight and prevent organized criminal activities originating within it.”

The European Council added that the EU has imposed sanctions on Belarus and is prepared to “take further appropriate measures should such actions continue.”

Oct. 27 (UPI) — Lithuania will close its border with Belarus after balloons have continued to breach its airspace, Prime Minister Inga Ruginienė said Monday.

She said Lithuania will shoot down any balloons that enter the country.

“We are sending a signal to Belarus that no hybrid attack will be tolerated, and we are taking the strictest measures to stop such attacks,” Ruginienė said. “The armed forces will take all necessary measures, including kinetic measures to shoot down the balloons.”

The balloons are believed to be a tool of smugglers, which bring contraband cigarettes into the country. The border will stay open for EU nationals leaving Belarus and for diplomats.

Lithuania has had to shut down airspace over Vilnius for balloon intrusion at least four times last week and three times over the weekend. There were 170 flights disrupted.

Though the balloons aren’t sent by the government, Lithuania blames Belorussian President Alexander Lukashenko for his lack of action.

“Inaction is also an action,” Ruginienė said after a meeting of the National Security Commission on Monday. “If Belarus does nothing about it and does not fight, we also assess these actions accordingly.”

Lithuania is a member of NATO. Lukashenko is an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

On Sunday night, the National Crisis Management Center said its radar detected 66 objects traveling from Belarus to Lithuania.

Lithuania Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys said on X Monday that NATO was facing a “deliberate escalation of hybrid warfare from Russia and its proxy, Belarus,” calling recent airspace incursions, “calculated provocations designed to destabilize, distract and test NATO’s resolve.”

A Russian Sukhoi SU-30 fighter and an IL-78 tanker plane flew a half a mile into Lithuanian territory on Oct. 23, according to the country’s ministry of foreign affairs. It had departed from the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad, which shares borders with Lithuania and Poland.

Ruginienė said her country will push for more sanctions on Belarus at the European Union level. She also wouldn’t rule out invoking Article 4 of NATO, which calls for urgent discussions with allies when a member fears risk to its security.

Oct. 22 (UPI) — The European Parliament announced Wednesday it granted imprisoned journalists Andrzej Poczobut and Mzia Amaglobeli with its 2025 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought as the two political prisoners sit in isolation for speaking up.

The France-based European Parliament awarded Andrzej Poczobut of Belarus and Mzia Amaglobeli from Georgia with the prize to honor “exceptional” people or organizations that defend human rights, fundamental freedoms and safeguard minority rights.

On Wednesday, EP President Roberta Metsola revealed the decision by parliament’s political group leaders in the plenary chamber.

“The courage of these journalists in speaking out against injustice, even behind bars, stands as a powerful symbol of freedom and democracy,” Metsola posted on X.

The Sakharov Prize named after Soviet physicist and political dissident Andrei Sakharov, since 1988, honors those who fight for “respect of international law, democracy and rule of law.”

Its 2024 laureates were Venezuelan political opposition leaders, including María Corina Machado who in 2025 was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Nominations must be issued by at least 40 European Parliament members or by its political groups.

Poczobut and Amaglobeli were jointly nominated by the European People’s Party group, the European Conservatives and Reformists group, Lithuanian EP member Rasa Juknevičienė and 60 other colleagues.

Prize nominations were presented on Sept. 23 at a joint meeting of the EP’s foreign affairs and development committees in addition to its human rights subcommittee.

In August, scores of international human rights and journalism advocates joined to condemn the conviction and two-year prison sentence of independent Georgian journalist Mzia Amaghlobeli.

Amaghlobeli, notably, is Georgia’s first female political prisoner since its 1991 independence from the former Russian Soviet Union.

Andrzej Poczobut, a journalist and blogger from the Polish minority in Belarus, has been known for criticism of longtime Belarussian leader Alexander Lukashenko and his regime.

Poczobut, detained in 2021 and sentenced to eight years in a penal colony, has become a symbolic figure in the struggle for freedom and democracy in the country. His current condition is unknown and his family is denied any visits as the EP has called his his immediate and unconditional release.

The parliament granted its 2022 award to the people of Ukraine amid Russia’s full-scale arbitrary invasion of its neighboring country, and in 2024 to the late Jina Mahsa Amini and Iran’s Women, Life, Freedom Movement.

Other finalists included Franco-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal, the 2025 Budapest Pride events in Hungary, and the late American conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

Meanwhile, the award ceremony with its cash prize will take place December 16 in Strasbourg, France.