'Put money where the problem is': Lithuanian FM tells Euronews EU must bolster eastern flank now

2 months ago

'Put money where the problem is': Lithuanian FM tells Euronews EU must bolster eastern flank now

Lithuania's Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys tells Euronews that defending the eastern flank is an existential question after a series of destabilising airspace incursions.

READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2025/10/28/put-money-where-the-problem-is-lithuanian-fm-tells-euronews-eu-must-bolster-eastern-flank-

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00:00Lithuania says it will take all the necessary measures to protect its airspace after a series

00:13of air balloons created severe disruptions. The incident follows drone incursions into Romania,

00:19Denmark, Poland and Estonia, all of which is putting the European Union on high alert.

00:24Joining us now is Lithuania's Foreign Minister Kostudis Brutis.

00:28Sir, thank you so much for joining us on Euronews. Now, the obvious question is,

00:33was this an incident or is this the start of something perhaps more sinister, a hybrid threat?

00:39We stopped treating it as the incident. There are too many of those and the Belarusian regime is in

00:46full control of the situation on their side of the border. In purpose, they would see the situation

00:54different and they would be interested in changing it. They have all the tools and they

00:58do as the minimum nothing. And we were, as Lithuania, threatened very directly by Lukashenko that he will

01:04use cross-border crime as the tool to put the pressure on us. And this is another case that

01:10he is using it. That was illegal migration. Now it is the meteorological balloons.

01:15And can we ask you, of course, the government has said that it will shoot them down,

01:19that it will also consult with NATO and European allies. But I wonder when it comes specifically to

01:23the balloons, do you know what's in it? Did you have time to assess them? And what's the conclusion

01:28so far?

01:30They are big meteorological balloons that are filled up with different gas and the size of the cargo on

01:36it is up to 30, 40 kilograms. So this is a huge object in the sky. And the thing is, when they are

01:44letting them out from Belarus and because of the wind, it goes into our airspace and it disrupts

01:49our civil aviation. So already last week, more than 100 flights were disrupted. They were

01:55reorganized or rerouted to alternative airports. And there were more than 10,000 of passengers that

02:02felt the consequences of it. And of course, it goes with another collateral damage that is done by

02:07these activities. So we know what is in there. Basically, those are the cigarettes,

02:12but the very substances of the letter, less matter than about the carriage, the very system,

02:20the meteorological balloons in themselves.

02:22And can I ask you, you have said that when European leaders stayed together, dictators back

02:27down. Obviously, that's a reference to Lukashenko. Just very simply, do you want to see more

02:32sanctions on Belarus? And are you going to get them?

02:35Yes, we want to see not only solidarity, that we are really thankful and for the same political

02:39assessment of the situation, that it is the hybrid attack against one of the EU member states. And we

02:45want the sanction regime to be strengthened against Belarus. That's the first step. We have to put

02:51additional criteria for sanctions. That's the hybrid activities against the EU. We haven't done it yet.

02:57It is for Russia, but not for Belarus. And then we should go through the sectors. And one of those

03:02sectors is aviation, for example. That is not yet sanctioned. And of course, all the other financial

03:07institutions, Belarusian regime has to feel consequences for the activities that they do.

03:13And it's our obligation to respond.

03:15And sir, obviously, you talked about Lukashenko and Belarus, but I have to wonder,

03:20is Russia in some way connected? Because you yourself, you've talked about this very deep

03:24connection between the two of them. And in a way, Belarus is taking orders

03:28from Russia, certainly when it comes to Ukraine. So do you see a connection? And ultimately,

03:33do you believe this is a Russian strategy to create chaos in the European air traffic?

03:38We see that these are the actions of Belarusian regime right now, with the assistance on allowing

03:46the crime being organized across the border. And of course, it plays into the hand of Russia. And the

03:53consequences are the same as they are trying to impose on us with the GRU, for example, operations

04:00in our region. That is the goal to increase the tension in society, to decrease the trust in the

04:07government, and also decrease the support to Ukraine. So it is one element from the broader

04:12strategy. But to claim right now that it's in a full coordination, we need additional data. We are not

04:17manipulating and speculating about it. That's why we're very exact when we're saying this is the

04:22hybrid and this is the Belarusian regime.

04:24Okay, so at this point, you're not making that assessment yet?

04:26Not yet.

04:28What kind of feedback are you getting from NATO? But also, what kind of questions would you like

04:31to bring to the table when it comes to NATO?

04:34We should address it as the hybrid activity. NATO also has the capabilities in countering hybrid

04:39activities, the special dedicated team, the analysis, and also some tools. So we need this

04:45assessment as the minimum. And then moving from this on, we will see what additional measures are

04:50needed for our air defense. This falls into the broader topic and spectrum of the air defense

04:56capabilities that we so badly need in the region. That is integrated EN missile defense that would

05:02be effective and deter the fighter jets that are violating our airspace. Last week, two fighter jets

05:07violated our airspace. NATO airspace. We need credible systems that would deter that. And also,

05:13we need the specific elements that would be countering drones. Now, drones also entered our airspace.

05:20One of them was with explosives. So now we have meteorological balloons. Everything that is

05:24happening in airspace, that's the NATO responsibility. Absolutely. But the question is, and this is a

05:29follow-up question, this is NATO's responsibility. But the fact that they keep happening and in such

05:34a short amount of time, what it would signal is that whoever is doing this, I know you don't want

05:38to make the connection with Russia and you say this is Belarus at this point, but what they seem to

05:42believe is that they get away with it because your response is simply weak. So how are you going to

05:47change that? That's the point. That's the very exact point. If we cannot deter by denial, we cannot just

05:54deny our airspace and the entering, then we have to deter by punishment. And these leverages of

06:01punishment, these tools are sanctions, first of all. And the very exact and strong message, it is not

06:07allowed and you will suffer damage for what you're doing because you are causing damage on our side.

06:13So this is how it has to work until the point when they would stop these activities. We have very good

06:19examples how we manage the situation, for example, with disrupting the critical infrastructure in the

06:25Baltic Sea or with the recent, with the drones activities. It dramatically dropped. There are no

06:31drones now entering our airspace after the Eastern Century operation was launched by NATO. So same with the

06:37air balloons, we have to put measures that would work for Belarus. And this is pressure, nothing else.

06:43And if you put them forward, however, do you believe there could be any form of retaliation

06:46from Belarus? Are we going to enter now a permanent period of escalation?

06:50I think that they would review what they're doing. I won't guess around what's their goal,

06:55but they would stop doing it because if they see that there is a damage done,

07:00they cannot operate in the way as they did previously. And we will go our path till the very end,

07:06as we did with the instrumentalized migration. We brought Belarus to International Court of Justice.

07:13So for these activities, we will calculate all the damage that is done. And we will also require

07:19the response from the country and also the accountability of the country that is involved

07:24there, Belarus.

07:25And sir, you talked about the drones and anti drones that you will need. Of course,

07:30a commission pitched the idea of a drone world, but that created a mixed debate, mixed reactions

07:35from your European counterparts. Some of them believe simply the European Union cannot recreate

07:41an iron dome. And that is not objective, is not realistic. What steps, however, do you want to see

07:47from the eastern flank?

07:49It has to be strengthened. And resilience has to be built here on the eastern flank. I would prefer to

07:56call it the front line because of the so many activities that are happening here. If we cannot

08:01deter it, then we are moving to the another through the spiral of escalation to another level.

08:07And that's another level can be very hot. And we want to avoid this. So it's much cheaper to build

08:12the deterrence in the peacetime than to build the capabilities and reserves and everything that is

08:16needed for the wartime. So we have to invest now. We have the good initiatives, good flagship projects.

08:21One of them is counter drone wall. Also, we have the eastern flank watch initiative coming from

08:27commission. We have to implement it. And if someone has doubts why to invest here, then that person or

08:34that country will see the consequences in their land because it will go deeper into the Europe.

08:39So that's time to invest it here and to build the resilience that can be then copied elsewhere in the

08:44continental Europe.

08:45And do European counterparts understand that? Because when the idea of the drone wall was presented,

08:50some of the southern European countries said it's not just about the eastern flank. This is a full

08:55project and it also has to include the south. So I wonder, do you feel 100 percent supported by

09:00everyone around the table or is this something that's getting lost in translation here?

09:05I get more and more support and understanding about it and also solidarity with the very recent

09:10activities with the violation of the aerospace. And I fully agree that it has to be 360 approach

09:16and we have to address all the security challenges that are in front of us. But right now,

09:23an immediate challenge, an immediate threat is the aerospace violation on the eastern front line.

09:28So let's address that. We need same capabilities elsewhere. I'm in support of this. And I truly believe

09:34that EU has to step up and put the money where the problems are, because we are not only the

09:40economic union. We are also a geopolitical actor with a very, very difficult neighborhood.

09:46And you talk about the money on the table. Lithuania is one of the biggest spenders when

09:50it comes to defense as a percentage of GDP. I also know you had very difficult budget

09:54negotiations. So the question that comes up every time is, should the European Union at this point

09:59present a plan for joint debt for defense? This was done in the pandemic. COVID was seen as an

10:05existential threat. Is defense not an existential threat for the European Union?

10:10Yes, we are reviewing our taxes. We are increasing spending. We are also borrowing. We are using the

10:16safe mechanism, European Union. If we will see that there are additional instruments needed,

10:21like joint debt also for investments, that's the way to go. What else is more important than security

10:27right now? Everything else is unimportant if we cannot provide security to our citizens.

10:31And sir, I want to ask you just on this point, a very final question, because there's obviously

10:35an aspect that is really about money. When it comes to Ukraine, it's now clear that Russia should

10:40pay for the damage and not the European taxpayer. All the European leaders agreed on that last week

10:45in Brussels. But there is still a question as to how to structure this reparations loan.

10:49What is your preference and what would you like to see?

10:52I heard all the arguments and all the considerations about the risks related to it,

10:57economic and financial. I was very open and addressed them all.

11:01And the conclusion was from our experts, from the legal experts, from financial experts,

11:05that we can deal with it. European Union has the instrument. The European Central Bank has the

11:10instruments and credibility and respecting international market to deal with the stability

11:15of Europe. And now when we have this additional model and an additional way how to organize it

11:22through loan that would be used as the guarantee for reparation, this is even more gentle way how to

11:30implement and reduce the risk on the individual member state, be it Belgium. And it also puts the

11:36shared burden and for the managing the risk on the other member states. And we are ready to do

11:42this. We are ready to share this responsibility. And let's go for it. Because otherwise, actually,

11:48I do not see many alternatives here.

11:50Minister, thank you so much for your time. And thank you for joining us on Euronews.

11:54Thank you for having me.

'Put money where the problem is': Lithuanian FM tells Euronews EU must bolster eastern flank now

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