Lukashenko: Lithuanians themselves were transferring cigarettes from the territory of Belarus using meteorological probes
October 31, 2025
Lithuanians themselves were transferring cigarettes from the territory of Belarus using meteorological balloons. This was stated by the President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, responding to journalists' questions, as reported by a BELTA correspondent. The head of state said that Lithuanian citizens themselves, against the backdrop of Western neighbors closing Belarus's borders, decided to earn money by reselling cigarettes. Alexander Lukashenko emphasized that their own authorities put them in such conditions by disrupting normal trade relations and building a fence on the border.
"They built a fence. But people are used to it - they had some kind of business, they were engaged in production. They could produce and sell to us, we could produce - sell there. There was trade. They built a fence - and broke it, cut these vital ties. Millions of people lost this job overnight, on which they lived, especially Poles. There is private production there, they are even more dependent on this trade than we are," the Belarusian leader noted. - Lithuanian and Polish authorities - you are to blame for this happening. Why did you put people in such conditions? Why did you push them onto the path of crime?"
He said that Belarusian citizens absolutely legally purchased cigarettes at the production facilities and handed them over to Lithuanians who arrived in Belarus, making a profit. And the Lithuanians themselves then transferred the goods to their accomplices using balloons. The profit was due to the significant price difference for cigarettes in Belarus and EU countries.
"These people, whose lives and destinies were cut short along the border (they need to feed their children, do something), saw that they could get cheap goods here and resell them there. To earn a lot of money," Alexander Lukashenko said.
"They set up this business. Our people at the factory buy cigarettes at a favorable price, sell them (to earn money themselves - some profit) to Lithuanians. They need to transfer them over the fence. They transferred them in small portions using these balloons. Lithuanians received them there," the President noted.
Alexander Lukashenko noted that the Lithuanian border guards must have seen this and did see it, but they also receive money.
"Did ours see it? They surely did. Well, what about ours? You imposed sanctions against us, you are strangling us, and so on. As I often say, should we protect you? Well, let these balloons fly. But we will check this later. But the main thing is that the Lithuanians accepted these balloons and took these cigarettes. They didn't sell them in Lithuania. In the Netherlands and England. They say the cigarettes are the most expensive there," the head of state added.
"How can I hold them accountable (participants in this scheme from the Belarusian side. - Ed. BELTA) for what Belarus is guilty of here? I don't see what people should be punished for. They wanted to earn money - they earned it. If they had stolen these cigarettes... No, they paid," Alexander Lukashenko posed the question. "What claims do you have against us? That we sold cigarettes to the Lithuanians? We sold them. It's legal."
Moreover, it is beneficial for the factory that sells its products, and for the state that receives excise taxes from cigarette sales into the budget.
The head of state noted that he had inquired from knowledgeable people about the details of how many cigarettes are transported using such balloons. As he was informed, one box contains 500 packs of cigarettes, and no more than two boxes, i.e., a thousand packs of cigarettes, can be lifted at a time. "These are, they say, poor fellows who have nowhere to work now, they can't travel back and forth. They are doing this," he said.
Alexander Lukashenko also shared details about how people from Lithuania involved in smuggling entered Belarus: "From Lithuania in this case (we identified these two), they invite people. We have a visa-free regime. But they didn't use it. They went through the 'green border', agreed with the Lithuanian border guards, opened the gate - and they came to us."
The President also explained that the Lithuanians' arrival in Belarus was due to the refusal of participants from the Belarusian side to launch these balloons: "They said: 'No, Batka will put us in jail, we won't do this!' They bought these balloons online. And these Lithuanians, since ours didn't agree, sent the cigarettes to Lithuania themselves using these balloons. And in Lithuania, their guys accepted them, those whom they (the authorities. - Ed. BELTA) deprived of their earnings."
"I generally want to clarify how many of these balloons flew there. They say 200. Our "bandits" say: "Tell the President, there were no 200 there. There were two dozen of these balloons. We don't have that many balloons," they say. If the Lithuanians threw them to themselves, then find these Lithuanians, identify them, and hold them accountable. They understand this and, allegedly, this morning they reported to me that the Lithuanians found something. We will find our own, ask them why they did it. But I don't know how to hold them accountable. They bought and sold," the Belarusian leader added.
Despite all of the above, the head of state noted that the fact that the airport's operations were paralyzed due to the launched balloons is important to him. "The balloons rose up to five kilometers, they say. What if it were a civilian aircraft – people would have died. This is unacceptable and important to me," he emphasized.
Moreover, Alexander Lukashenko shared another underlying reason for the issue: "The Lithuanians understand that this will all come out, it will all be known. I'll let you in on a secret: we are negotiating with the Americans. These negotiations are going differently, and with difficulty. And literally the day after the night when these balloons flew, the Americans sent us a message that the Belarusians are to blame for what happened, and that the authorities and Lukashenko must immediately apologize to Lithuania, and publicly at that. I said: "Go f*** yourselves..." and so on. I said that we would apologize, but only if we were to blame. What should I apologize for? But the Americans demand apologies from us, and the Lithuanians do too. Who is controlling whom? They complained to the Americans, who are negotiating with us. The Americans send me a letter demanding an apology. The Lithuanians also demand it from us. The Americans gave them the order: "Demand apologies so that Lukashenko apologizes."
"If I am to blame for something, if I am to blame based on this, I am ready to apologize. But I do not see my fault, I do not see the fault of our people. And besides, let's be frank, if we need to transport cigarettes to Poland – we will send a whole train there. And they will accept it. Why? Because there is demand for it there. This is economics. You can't escape it. If a product is 5 or 10 times more expensive there than here – they will dig a tunnel underground and deliver it. And those who see it will remain silent if they are paid (border guards). He was paid – he stays silent. It's cigarettes, not nuclear weapons," the President said.
Speaking about this whole situation, the head of state noted: "The point is that they need to find something to bring us to our knees."
Alexander Lukashenko cited one example in this regard, when sanctions were imposed against Belavia. The reason was the detention of opposition figure Roman Protasevich along with his girlfriend at the time. "I won't go into lengthy details. Protasevich is an operative of our intelligence service. Did we need to detain him? But the question is why they (the Ryanair flight. - BELTA's note) were flying to Vilnius, didn't land there, but turned around and flew to Minsk, landing after a call that there was some kind of explosive on board... Well, land, you were flying to Vilnius, you were over Vilnius - land. They turned around and flew to Minsk. Landed in Minsk. I said: 'Well, conduct the operation, he was working undercover for these fugitives. Conduct the operation properly'," the President stated.
"We had to conduct an operation to detain him. Although we didn't need to detain him. He arrived in Greece, he was summoned there, he reported to the intelligence officers everything that interested us, received his assignment and was flying back. To where he was working, via Vilnius. We were accused of detaining an opposition figure. But he is not our opposition figure. We did not detain an opposition figure. That's why sanctions were imposed," the head of state said.
"It's exactly the same here. We must apologize to the Lithuanians. For what? They cannot manipulate us. And in this regard, I see that the situation is being escalated. They want to crush us along with the Russians. They want to crush us: Putin, Lukashenko - they are outright aggressors. This cannot be done. They will not cope with us. Do they really want the middle of the last century to repeat itself? They will not cope with us. We will defend our land with the Russians to the last man. But we are not encroaching on anyone," the Belarusian leader emphasized.