The government will meet on Wednesday and is ready to decide on a closure “without a time limit,” Ruginienė said after a National Security Commission session.
Exceptions would cover diplomats and diplomatic mail, and allow Lithuanian and EU citizens to enter from Belarus. “All remaining traffic will be closed,” she said.
By sealing the frontier, Vilnius aims to signal that no hybrid operations will be tolerated and that the authorities will apply the “strictest measures” to stop such attacks, the prime minister said.
From Monday, the military will take “all measures, including kinetic ones,” to shoot down balloons, she added, noting that trial reconnaissance activity was conducted “yesterday.”
Ministers will also examine amendments to the Criminal Code this week to introduce the “harshest penalty” for smuggling. While earlier plans focused on higher fines, the discussion now includes imprisonment, Ruginienė said.
Lithuania will consult allies over the balloon threat, and the Foreign Ministry has been tasked with arranging an “additional package of sanctions against Belarus,” according to the prime minister.
Police and the Border Guard have mobilized joint forces and started work on a comprehensive anti-smuggling plan, she said, adding that these actions “will only be intensified.”
(jh)
Source: LRT, The Guardian