Illegally delivered balloons from Belarus to Lithuania, which repeatedly caused the suspension of operations at Vilnius Airport, were systematically used by information channels supporting the Kremlin and attempting to discredit the decisions of Lithuanian authorities, according to a study conducted by the Debunk.org disinformation analysis center, reported by Lithuania's public broadcaster LRT.
The chief analyst of Debunk.org, Algirdas Kazlauskas, points out that the violations of Lithuania's air, sea, and land space recorded this year in the information space of Lithuania and neighboring countries were presented as a sort of advertisement for the military exercises "West-25."
"The main goal of the mentioned provocations, as well as to some extent the maneuvers themselves, was likely to disturb the imagination of Western societies with the expectation of war. Thus, people insisted that governments should not share military support with Ukraine, but keep it for themselves," Kazlauskas noted in the report.
The influx of meteorological balloons smuggled into Lithuania intensified in October, when the hype around the military exercises conducted by Russia and Belarus had already begun to wane.
"Although the balloons seemed a less dangerous provocation than drones, they ultimately became a much more complex problem for the Lithuanian government. The situation was further exacerbated by the unfortunate decision to close the state border, which gave Alexander Lukashenko's regime a reason to take thousands of Lithuanian carriers hostage," the analyst points out.
The study notes that from the beginning of the year until mid-December, 801 reports mentioning provocations with meteorological balloons organized by Belarus were published in Kremlin-supporting media.
It is emphasized that the situations received even more attention after the Lithuanian government's decision to close border control points on the border with Belarus. As the analyst notes, this decision was portrayed as inadequate and unjustified.
"On one hand, Lithuania was depicted as an aggressive provocateur of conflicts, isolating itself from its neighbors (omitting the reasons), closing borders, ignoring the interests of its residents and entrepreneurs. The blame for this is placed on Belarus, thereby trying to obtain additional funding from the European Union," the analyst explains.
"On the other hand, arguments are also spread that Lithuania is weak and desperate: border guards are allegedly corrupt and unable to cope with smugglers, a state of emergency is declared due to supposedly harmless balloons, the closest ally — Poland — does not support Lithuania, opening its borders to Belarus, and ultimately, it is left only to complain to the EU and the USA for intervention and rescue in these difficulties," Kazlauskas illustrates the narrative spread in Kremlin-supporting media.
At the same time, Belarus is portrayed against this backdrop as a stable, diplomatic, and strong state.
After the attacks using smuggled balloons from Belarus, the government decided at the end of October to close the border control points in Medininkai and Šalčininkai on the border with Belarus for a month.
Later, the border was reopened, but Lithuania's airspace was repeatedly violated, and Vilnius Airport was once again forced to suspend operations.
Due to the smuggled balloons, several meetings of the State Security Committee were convened, the issue of hybrid attacks from Belarus is being discussed in various formats at both state and international levels, and a state of emergency has been declared throughout Lithuania.
