Lithuanians themselves were smuggling cigarettes from Belarusian territory using weather balloons, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko said in response to a question from journalists on 31 October, BelTA has learned.
The head of state said Lithuanians themselves resorted to the cigarette trade due to border closures by neighboring countries. Aleksandr Lukashenko asserted that their own authorities pushed them into it by disrupting normal commerce and building a border fence.
“They put up a fence. People had gotten used to a different life – they had some kind of business going, they were involved in production. They could produce something and sell it to us, we could produce something and sell it to them. Trade was flowing. They put up this fence, and it severed, it cut these living connections. Millions of people were suddenly deprived of this work, the very thing they lived on, especially the Poles. Theirs is private production, so they are even more dependent on this trade than we are,” the Belarusian leader said. “The Lithuanian and Polish authorities are to blame for this happening. Why did you put people in such conditions? Why did you push them onto the path of crime?” the Belarusian leader remarked.
He stated that Belarusian citizens would buy cigarettes legally from the factory and sell them to Lithuanians who came into Belarus, pocketing a profit. The Lithuanians, in turn, moved the merchandise to their partners across the border using balloons, capitalizing on the price difference between Belarus and the EU.
“They set up this business. Our people get the cigarettes from the factory at a good price and sell them to the Lithuanians. They had to get them over the fence. They used these little balloons to send small batches across,” the president stated. “The Lithuanians on the other side would receive the balloons and take the cigarettes. They didn't sell them in Lithuania, but in the Netherlands and England. They say cigarettes are most expensive there.”
“How can I hold them [the Belarusian participants in this scheme] accountable? What is Belarus' guilt in this? I don't see any reason to punish these people. They wanted to earn money, and they did. It would be different if they had stolen these cigarettes... But no, they paid for them,” the head of state said.
