Lithuanian border guards could shoot down balloons crossing border – minister

VILNIUS – Border guards could be authorized to shoot down balloons carrying contraband from Belarus or Russia when they cross the border, Defense Minister Laurynas Kasciunas said on Monday. 

The minister also suggested that mobile units of Public Security Service officers could be deployed to protect critical infrastructure within the country.

"In my opinion, border guards should have the right to shoot them down in the air," Kasciunas told reporters.

"Another way, when it comes to physical infrastructure protection, is the idea I've proposed, which is that the Public Security Service, responsible by law for protecting critical infrastructure by law, could form mobile groups or teams modeled after Ukraine's National Security Guard," the minister said. 

"These groups could be on duty at critical infrastructure sites, and if they detect such objects, they could also have the means, such as machine guns, to neutralize them," he added.

The minister's comments came after a balloon, suspected to have come from Belarus and carrying smuggled cigarettes, fell within Vilnius Airport's airfield late on Saturday.

He said that shooting down such balloons in peacetime should not be the military’s responsibility, because "this is essentially an issue of fighting smuggling".

According to Kasciunas, using military force in peacetime is a "very sensitive" topic, and there is currently no indication that these balloons are carrying anything more dangerous than contraband cigarettes.

"If there's information that a balloon is carrying explosives rather than cigarette cartons, and there's clear evidence to support that, then, without a doubt, it's a completely different level of decision-making. In that case, yes, I could see the military shooting it down," he said.   

However, the minister described the current situation as a "grey area".

"That's why we have to look at how in peacetime, when we have various incidents, we can make decisions and improve our ability to neutralize such incidents. Because if we talk about using the military, does that mean we need to mobilize and deploy forces along the border? And wait for what? For how long and for what?" he said. 

Meanwhile, Rustamas Liubajevas, the commander of the Lithuanian State Border Guard Service (SBGS), said that border guards do not have the necessary weapons nor the legal authority to shoot down objects that illegally cross the Lithuanian border by air.

He explained that border guards use assault rifles, which do not have the technical capability to shoot down higher-flying objects.

However, the SBGS commander said he has already asked the Interior Ministry to initiate legislative amendments to allow border guards to use firearms against low-lying objects that have crossed the state border illegally. 

The SBGS says it has recorded around 250 incidents involving such balloons in the past month.