{"id":509926,"date":"2026-01-15T15:26:37","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T12:26:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reform.news\/?p=509926"},"modified":"2026-01-15T15:43:38","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T12:43:38","slug":"lithuanian-interior-minister-russia-and-belarus-use-lithuania-as-a-testing-ground-for-hybrid-attacks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/lithuanian-interior-minister-russia-and-belarus-use-lithuania-as-a-testing-ground-for-hybrid-attacks","title":{"rendered":"Lithuanian Interior Minister: Russia and Belarus Use Lithuania as a Testing Ground for Hybrid Attacks"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"fb-root\"><\/div>\n<p>Lithuanian Minister of the Interior <b>Vladislav Kondratovi\u010d<\/b> discussed the regional security situation with Czech Ambassador to Lithuania <b>Ale\u0161 Opata<\/b>.<\/p>\n<p>Kondratovi\u010d noted that Lithuania is facing airspace violations involving balloons, which pose a threat to civil aviation. Illegal migration also remains a problem. In 2024, Lithuanian border guards prevented 1,002 attempts to illegally cross the Belarus\u2013Lithuania border; in 2025, the number rose to 1,652.<\/p>\n<p>The head of the Lithuanian Interior Ministry stressed that Lithuania is ready to strengthen border protection and take additional measures, the ministry\u2019s press service reported.<\/p>\n<p><i>\u201cFacing hostile and aggressive neighbours, we see no grounds for easing the measures in place \u2014 on the contrary, we will reinforce the protection of the external border and, if necessary, take additional steps,\u201d<\/i> Kondratovi\u010d said.<\/p>\n<p>Due to the measures taken by Lithuania, part of the migration flows was redirected to neighbouring countries. In 2025, secondary migration from Latvia to Lithuania increased by 138% compared with 2024.<\/p>\n<p>Kondratovi\u010d and Opata discussed other hybrid threats from Belarus and Russia: propaganda, disinformation, malicious actions, and provocations. The minister believes that Minsk and Moscow are using Lithuania as a testing ground.<\/p>\n<p><i>\u201cThese events show that the scale of hybrid threats is growing and becoming increasingly dangerous. We see that our region is being used as a kind of \u2018testing ground\u2019, and similar actions may then be repeated in other European states,\u201d<\/i> Kondratovi\u010d said.<\/p>\n<p>He stressed that in these circumstances the unity of all EU countries and a coordinated response are essential.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lithuanian Minister of the Interior Vladislav Kondratovi\u010d discussed the regional security situation with Czech Ambassador to Lithuania Ale\u0161 Opata. Kondratovi\u010d noted that Lithuania is facing airspace violations involving balloons, which pose a threat to civil aviation. Illegal migration also remains a problem. In 2024, Lithuanian border guards prevented 1,002 attempts to illegally cross the Belarus\u2013Lithuania [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":119,"featured_media":509925,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sharing_image":{"poster":"https:\/\/reform.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/6968e1004245f.jpg","width":1200,"height":630,"template":"691142dd","mode":"auto"},"_sharing_image_fieldset":{"dTVKfmI95PYT":"Lithuanian Interior Minister: Russia and Belarus Use Lithuania as a Testing Ground for Hybrid Attacks"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-509926","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"wps_subtitle":"","permalink_manager":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509926","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\/119"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=509926"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509926\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/509925"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=509926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=509926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=509926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}