{"id":493728,"date":"2025-10-28T11:13:45","date_gmt":"2025-10-28T08:13:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reform.news\/?p=493728"},"modified":"2025-10-28T12:06:22","modified_gmt":"2025-10-28T09:06:22","slug":"lukashenko-calls-lithuania-s-border-closure-an-attempt-to-disrupt-minsk-security-conference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/lukashenko-calls-lithuania-s-border-closure-an-attempt-to-disrupt-minsk-security-conference","title":{"rendered":"Lukashenko Calls Lithuania\u2019s Border Closure an Attempt to Disrupt Minsk Security Conference"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Alexander Lukashenko<\/b>, opening the Minsk Conference on Eurasian Security, accused Lithuania of attempting to obstruct the event. He made the remark in reference to the Lithuanian government\u2019s suspension of border checkpoint operations following the entry of contrabandists\u2019 balloons into Lithuanian airspace, which had repeatedly led to the closure of Vilnius Airport.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to welcome you to the Belarusian capital at the third International Conference on Eurasian Security. This conference has been awaited not only by us, the participants, but also by our opponents, who are closely watching Minsk today. Not everyone was supposed to reach Minsk. That was precisely the goal of some of our neighbors when they pulled off this crazy stunt \u2014 closing the border,\u201d<\/i> he said.<\/p>\n

Lukashenko called Lithuania\u2019s claims about contraband balloons absurd.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey came up with an absurd excuse \u2014 balloons. Even for such a small country as Lithuania, that\u2019s petty. And the most astonishing thing is that they\u2019re demanding an apology from us \u2014 I received that information this morning. You know, if you\u2019re guilty, you should always apologize. If we are convinced that we\u2019re to blame \u2014 and they\u2019re trying to convince us now \u2014 we\u2019re ready to discuss it publicly and apologize. That\u2019s certain. <\/i><\/p>\n

But if some balloons carrying cigarettes or something else are flying there, I think the issue should be resolved on their side. They didn\u2019t just fly off into nowhere \u2014 someone there received them or is receiving them, someone is interested in it. Such things should be identified and stopped at the root.<\/em><\/p>\n

That\u2019s just my general remark, since I\u2019m sure you\u2019ve followed the issue. I state responsibly: there is no talk of any major smuggling. But this says a lot about the political significance of our conference, since they\u2019re trying to block it,\u201d<\/em> Lukashenko said.<\/p>\n

He also linked recent developments to Poland\u2019s border closure in September.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese actions are clearly not only by our neighbors but by Europe as a whole and other forces. And let\u2019s not delude ourselves about the United States \u2014 this is another element of hybrid warfare, just like Warsaw\u2019s recent border closure. And what has it led to? At best, the People\u2019s Republic of China, which once delivered goods to Europe through Ukraine by agreement, now, naturally, because of the front, routed everything through Belarus. China, together with Russia, found alternative routes \u2014 through the Northern Sea Route \u2014 which increased cargo movement and caused huge losses as a result. <\/i><\/p>\n

Not only did Belarus earn from transit, but Poland as well. From Chinese transit alone \u2014 and I\u2019m speaking only about China \u2014 Poland earned 65\u201370%, while the remaining 30\u201335% came from the movement of goods from Kazakhstan, Russia, and through Belarus. Who lost out? It\u2019s obvious. Now they\u2019re trying to find a way out of this situation \u2014 but it\u2019s unlikely.<\/em><\/p>\n

You know what China is and how it approaches such matters. This is the 21st century \u2014 closed skies, barbed wire, complete rejection of dissent \u2014 and it\u2019s only the beginning. They are afraid that an alternative point of view might be voiced here. They fear all of us \u2014 you, your analysis, your understanding of the situation, your ability to convey it to people, your voice. And despite everything, you came to Minsk \u2014 for that, I thank you. We are always glad to welcome you in Minsk,\u201d<\/em> he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Alexander Lukashenko, opening the Minsk Conference on Eurasian Security, accused Lithuania of attempting to obstruct the event. He made the remark in reference to the Lithuanian government\u2019s suspension of border checkpoint operations following the entry of contrabandists\u2019 balloons into Lithuanian airspace, which had repeatedly led to the closure of Vilnius Airport. \u201cI want to welcome […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":493727,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sharing_image":{"poster":"https:\/\/reform.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/69008795ba1b4.jpg","width":1200,"height":630,"template":"691142dd","mode":"auto"},"_sharing_image_fieldset":{"dTVKfmI95PYT":"Lukashenko Calls Lithuania\u2019s Border Closure an Attempt to Disrupt Minsk Security Conference"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[142339,142338],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-493728","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-main","category-news"],"wps_subtitle":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493728","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=493728"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493728\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/493727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=493728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=493728"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=493728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}