Parliament denounces continuous Belarusian hybrid attacks against Lithuania 

This article is brought to you in association with the European Parliament.

On Thursday, Parliament condemned Belarus for conducting an escalating campaign of coordinated hybrid attacks against Lithuania and the EU.

The text, adopted by 438 votes in favour, 37 against with 48 abstentions, points to Belarus’s repeated unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and balloon incursions into Lithuanian airspace, as well as cyberattacks, state-sponsored disinformation campaigns, economic coercion, and instrumentalised migration. These actions, MEPs say, are deliberate, coordinated, hostile and also part of a broader Russia-led strategy to undermine the EU, its member states and NATO.

The resolution highlights a sharp rise in Belarusian airspace violations since 2024, posing serious risks to civil aviation, public safety and the economy. MEPs see evidence that the unmanned devices were deployed in a controlled way and were, in one case, equipped with explosive material. Following Lithuania’s closure of its border with Belarus, the text condemns Belarus’s retaliatory detention of EU freight operators, as well as its long-standing use of migration as a political weapon.

Solidarity with Lithuania, lack of EU-US coordination, more sanctions against Belarus

MEPs further express full solidarity with Lithuania and support its right to take proportionate defensive measures. They demand that Belarus cease all hybrid activities against Lithuania, release detained European hauliers and their property, compensate financial losses caused, and ensure aviation and border-crossing safety. They criticise the uncoordinated US decision to partially lift sanctions on Belarus and reiterate the EU’s non-recognition of dictator Aliaksandr Lukashenka’s legitimacy.

MEPs also call on EU member states in the Council to impose additional targeted sanctions on Belarusian officials, state-owned and private entities, and individuals involved in UAV production and deployment, and all other hybrid operations targeting critical infrastructure, economic activities and democratic institutions.

The text calls for stronger EU–NATO cooperation on airspace security and action to counter hybrid threats, enhanced airspace surveillance and counter-UAV capabilities, improved intelligence-sharing, and increased investment in the EU’s eastern-border security and critical infrastructure. It supports new EU initiatives such as the European drone defence initiative and Eastern Flank Watch and insists on the need for deeper EU cooperation with Ukraine on drone technologies, counter-UAV systems, cyber protection and hybrid-threat resilience. Finally, MEPs stress the need for the EU to counter Belarusian disinformation, pursue international accountability for Belarus’s actions, and strengthen societal resilience across the EU.