Lukashenko: Lithuanians themselves were transferring cigarettes from the territory of Belarus using meteorological probes
Lithuanians themselves were transporting cigarettes from the territory of Belarus using meteorological balloons. This was stated by President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, answering journalists' questions, as reported by a BELTA correspondent. The head of state said that Lithuanian citizens themselves, against the backdrop of the closure of Belarus's borders by its western neighbors, decided to earn money by reselling cigarettes. Alexander Lukashenko emphasized that their own authorities put them in such conditions by breaking off normal trade relations and building a fence on the border.
"They built a fence. But people are used to it – they had some kind of business, they were engaged in production. They could produce and sell to us, we could produce – sell there. There was trade. They built a fence – and broke, cut these living ties. Millions of people lost this job overnight, by which they lived, especially Poles. There is private production there, they are even more dependent on this trade than we are," the Belarusian leader noted. "Lithuanian and Polish authorities – you are to blame for this happening. Why did you put people in such conditions? Why did you push them onto the path of crime?"
He explained that Belarusian citizens legally purchased cigarettes at the production facilities and handed them over to Lithuanians who arrived in Belarus, making a profit. And then the Lithuanians themselves transported the goods to their accomplices using balloons. The profit was due to the significant price difference for cigarettes in Belarus and EU countries.
"These people, whose lives and destinies were cut short along the border (they need to feed their children, do something), saw that they could get cheap goods here and resell them there. To earn a lot of money," Alexander Lukashenko said.
"They set up this business. Our people at the factory buy cigarettes at a favorable price, sell them (to earn money themselves – some profit) to Lithuanians. They need to transport them over the fence. They transported them in small portions on these balloons. Lithuanians received them there," the President noted.
Alexander Lukashenko pointed out that Lithuanian border guards must have seen this and did see it, but they also receive money.
"Did our people see this? They must have seen it. So what about our people? You imposed sanctions on us, you are strangling us, and so on. As I often say, are we going to protect you? Well, fly away with these balloons. But we will check this. The main thing is that the Lithuanians received these balloons and took these cigarettes. They did not sell them in Lithuania. They sold them in the Netherlands and England. They say cigarettes are most expensive there," the head of state added.
"How can I hold them (participants of this scheme from the Belarusian side. - BELTA note) accountable, what is Belarus's fault here? I don't see why people should be punished. They wanted to earn money - they earned it. If they had stolen these cigarettes... No, they paid for them," Alexander Lukashenko posed the question. "What claims do you have against us? That we sold cigarettes to the Lithuanians? We sold them. It's legal."
Moreover, this is beneficial for the factory that sells its products, and for the state, which receives excise taxes from cigarette sales into the budget.
The head of state noted that he had inquired from knowledgeable people about the details of how many cigarettes are transported using such balloons. As he was informed, there are 500 packs of cigarettes in one box, and no more than two boxes, i.e., a thousand packs of cigarettes, can be lifted at once. "These are, they say, unfortunate people who have no work now and cannot travel back and forth. They are doing this," he said.
Alexander Lukashenko also shared details about how people from Lithuania involved in smuggling entered Belarus: "From Lithuania in this case (we identified these two), they invite people. We have a visa-free regime. But they did not use it. They went through the 'green corridor', agreed with the Lithuanian border guards, opened the gate - and they came to us."
The President also explained that the arrival of Lithuanians in Belarus was due to the refusal of Belarusian participants to launch these balloons: "They said: 'No, Batka will put us in jail, we won't do this!' They bought these balloons online. And these Lithuanians, since our people refused, sent the cigarettes to Lithuania themselves using these balloons. And in Lithuania, they were received by guys whom they (the authorities. - BELTA note) deprived of their earnings."
"I generally want to clarify how many of these balloons flew there. They say 200. Our 'bandits' say: 'Tell the President, there were no 200. There were two dozen of these balloons. We don't have that many balloons.' If the Lithuanians transferred them themselves, then find these Lithuanians, identify them, and hold them accountable. They understand this and, allegedly, reported to me this morning that the Lithuanians found something. We will find our own people, ask them why they did it. But I don't know how to hold them accountable. They bought and sold," the Belarusian leader added.
Despite all of the above, the head of state noted that the fact that the airport's operations were paralyzed due to the launched balloons was important to him. "The balloons rose up to five kilometers, they say. What if it were a civilian aircraft – people would have died. This is unacceptable to me and is important," he emphasized.
Moreover, Alexander Lukashenko shared another underlying reason for the issue: "The Lithuanians understand that all this will surface, it will all become known. I'll let you in on a secret: we are negotiating with the Americans. These negotiations are going differently, with difficulty. And literally the next day after the night these balloons flew, the Americans sent us a message that the Belarusians are to blame for what happened, and that the authorities and Lukashenko must immediately apologize to Lithuania, and publicly at that. I said: 'Go to hell...' And so on. I said that we will apologize, but only if we are to blame. What do I have to apologize for? But the Americans demand apologies from us, and the Lithuanians do too. Who controls whom? They complained to the Americans, who are negotiating with us. The Americans send me a letter asking for an apology. So the Lithuanians are also demanding it from us. The Americans gave them the order: 'Demand an apology, so that Lukashenko apologizes.'"
"If I am to blame for something, if I am to blame based on this, I am ready to apologize. But I don't see my fault, I don't see the fault of our people. And besides, let's be frank, if we need to transfer cigarettes to Poland – we will send a whole train there. And they will accept it there. Why? Because there is demand for it. This is economics. You can't escape it. If the price of a product there is 5 or 10 times higher than ours – they will dig a tunnel underground and deliver it. And those who see it will keep silent if they are paid (border guards). He was paid – he keeps silent. It's cigarettes, not nuclear weapons," the President said.
Speaking about the entire situation, the head of state noted: "The point is that they need to find something to bring us to heel."
Alexander Lukashenko cited one example in this regard, when sanctions were imposed against Belavia. The reason was the detention of opposition figure Roman Protasevich along with his then-girlfriend. "I won't go into lengthy details. Protasevich is an employee of our intelligence service. Did we need to detain him? But the question is why they (Ryanair flight. - BELTA's note) were flying to Vilnius, didn't land there, but turned around and flew to Minsk, landed after a call that there was some explosive on board... Well, land, you were flying to Vilnius, you were over Vilnius - land. They turned around, flew to Minsk. Landed in Minsk. I said: 'Well, conduct the operation, he was working undercover for these fugitives. Conduct the operation properly'," the President stated.
"We had to conduct an operation to detain him. Although we didn't need to detain him. He arrived in Greece, he was summoned there, he reported everything that interested us to the intelligence officers, received his assignment and was flying back. To where he worked, via Vilnius. We were accused of detaining an opposition figure. But he is not our opposition figure. We did not detain an opposition figure. That's why sanctions were imposed," the head of state said.
"It's exactly the same here. We must apologize to the Lithuanians. For what? They cannot manipulate us. And in this regard, I see that the situation is being escalated. They want to crush us and the Russians. They want to crush us: Putin, Lukashenko - they are aggressors. This cannot be done. They will not cope with us. Do they really want the middle of the last century to repeat itself? They will not cope with us. We will defend our land with the Russians to the last man. But we are not encroaching on anyone," the Belarusian leader emphasized.