Vilnius’ attempts to escalate the situation around balloons allegedly carrying smuggled cigarettes from Belarus to Lithuania are due to several reasons, including an internal political struggle within Lithuania – as stated by the Chairman of the State Security Committee, Ivan Tertel, following his today’s report to the President of Belarus, BelTA reports
Photo: www.belta.by
Commenting on the situation with the weather balloons with smuggled cigarettes, Mr. Tertel noted that the topic had been a matter for law enforcement only initially, but Vilnius escalated it to the political level, so the Belarusian special services joined in to monitor the situation and make decisions. “Our foreign intelligence service indicates that several factors influenced the situation and its publicity,” he said, noting that one of them was linked to an internal political struggle within Lithuania. “The situation [with the weather balloons] overlaps with the plans of a very narrow circle of people of Lithuania’s political establishment to carry out Operation Successor (as we call it). According to our data, a decision has been made to hold an early presidential election, taking into account the expected deterioration of the economic situation in Lithuania. There is a certain person there who is the most aggressive in this regard, and according to our data, this individual is seeking the role of head of state. By taking a tough stance and hoping that this will succeed, there was an attempt to demonstrate some influence on that situation and create better conditions for competition in a politically uncertain environment, including leading to the need for an early election at a convenient time.”
Continuing the topic of the internal political struggle, Mr. Tertel noted that a certain group of people is trying to create problems for the current head of government in order to undermine this person’s possible chances of becoming head of state in the event of an early election. “They have Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene in focus,” he added.
The KGB Chief stressed that individual representatives of the Lithuanian government and parliament are taking a constructive position on the situation with the weather balloons. “We know the mood reigning both in the government and parliament. There are people who think constructively there, and their voice is becoming increasingly heard. They would like normal, good-neighbourly relations,” he said.
Another reason for the hysteria with the weather balloons is Lithuania’s desire to receive additional funding from the EU structures, following the example of Poland. “As we know, Poland received very large sums under the pretext of ensuring Europe’s interests on its external borders. Actually, it [Vilnius] has a desire and a bit of black envy to do the same,” Mr. Tertel explained, adding that this is why the situation with migrants at the border and the alleged entry of balloons with smuggled cigarettes is being escalated.
At the same time, he emphasised that Belarus’ State Security Committee has contacts with almost all special services of the world, which makes it possible to sort out a particular situation in a calm manner. “I am familiar with the heads of almost all the secret services of the West. They appreciate the position of our President, send greetings to him and say that they appreciate his work,” Mr. Tertel said. “We have channels through the special services [with Lithuania] and, following an instruction of the Head of State, we proposed them to meet calmly and discuss all issues so as not to escalate the situation, because this is abnormal. We respect the Lithuanian people, we used to live close to each other for centuries, our families are mixed up, and so on. Unfortunately, I have to admit that my Lithuanian colleagues avoided discussing this topic, which – as we saw later – was purposefully shifted to the information space and inflated.”
“The Head of State has determined that we are ready to discuss all issues. Our Foreign Ministry has been waiting for good news from the Lithuanian side for a long time. I am sure that we will solve all the problems in the end and will work together for the benefit of our peoples, as it has always been – assisting each other in different situations. This is normal practice and normal relations between nations,” Mr. Tertel concluded.