European Parliament Calls For Tougher Sanctions Against Lukashenko's Regime

• 17.12.2025, 20:40

For hybrid attacks against Lithuania.

The purpose of Belarus' hybrid attacks against Lithuania is to undermine the security of the entire European Union and sow fear among its member states, so Brussels should impose additional sanctions against the Belarusian regime without delay. This was said by the participants of the debate, held in the European Parliament on December 16, reports DW.

"These attacks have a clear goal: to humiliate the EU, NATO, the Lithuanian state, to sow doubts and increase the feeling of insecurity. These attacks are a test of our unity. And our response should be firm: sanctions, which should become even tougher," said Lithuanian MP from the Green group Virginius Sinkevicius.

According to European Commissioner for Home Affairs and Migration Magnus Brunner, who took part in the debate, this year alone Lithuanian authorities have detected about 600 weather probes and 200 drones coming from Belarus in their airspace. Brunner said that these deliberate attacks "are just part of a wider hybrid campaign of the Belarusian regime against Lithuania and must stop immediately."

He recalled that this week the EU Council approved new criteria for imposing sanctions against representatives of Belarusian individuals and companies involved in hybrid attacks. In addition to the sanctions, the European Commission has also allocated 150 million euros for the purchase of drones for aerial surveillance at the EU's external borders, and is preparing to provide an additional 250 million euros for the purchase of drones and countermeasures for border control.

Lithuanian MEP from the Liberal group Piatras Auštryavicius decided to visually demonstrate to his colleagues what the weather probes attacking Lithuania from Belarus look like. "This is what it looks like when it's not filled with air," said Auštryavicius, showing a small package from the podium. - It is made in China and is very dangerous for all of us." The MEP said that over the past two months, Vilnius airport has suspended its work due to an influx of weather probes from Belarus 19 times, for an average of four to six hours, which "poses a threat to civil aviation, critical infrastructure and human lives."

Czech MEP Ondřej Kolář of the European People's Party is convinced: one of the main reasons for the attacks on Lithuania is that the country has sheltered a large number of political refugees from Lukashenko's regime. According to him, these attacks are well-planned and coordinated, and include "the use of migrants, disinformation campaigns, cyberattacks, sabotage, drone incidents and much more in order to "destabilize our society and test the unity of Europe."

Euro MPs welcomed the release of more than a hundred political prisoners by the Belarusian authorities, but stressed that thousands more prisoners of the regime remain in jail. Lithuanian MEP for the European People's Party Rasa Jukniaviciene criticized the US decision to ease sanctions against Minsk in exchange for the release of a group of political prisoners. "I don't believe in agreements with the dictator, trading prisoners is a business for Lukashenko," Yukniaviciene warned.

She was supported by Denius Jalimas, an MP from the Liberal group, who urged "not to follow Trump's diplomacy, which sacrifices long-term goals for short-term, reversible concessions." Any review of the EU sanctions against Belarus should depend on the fulfillment of specific conditions, the politician said confidently. "Only sustainable changes, including respect for human rights and ending support for Russia's war against Ukraine, can justify the revision of sanctions," the politician said.

Polish Liberal MEP Michal Kobosko was outraged that "not long ago Lukashenko claimed he knew nothing about weather probes." "And now we see him negotiating with the US administration and making promises that airspace will no longer be violated." Kobosko also warned against a dangerous trend in international politics, when "the security of European countries is used as a bargaining chip and negotiations are conducted over our heads, without our consent."

Solidarity and support for Lithuania was expressed on behalf of Estonia by Marina Kalyurand, a member of the Socialist group representing that country. At the same time, she emphasized that Belarus's hybrid attacks against the EU countries are managed by Moscow. "Russia and Belarus are two sides of the same coin. In addition to hybrid attacks coming from Belarus, we have seen Russian fighter jets in Estonian airspace, dozens of drones in Poland and Romania, the use of migrants on the Finnish border, sabotage in the Baltic Sea," the MEP listed.

She called on the EU to include the priorities of eastern border security in the next long-term budget plan of the European Union (MFF).

Representatives of the far-right political groups of the European Parliament did not take part in the debate. Voting for the resolution "Continued Belarusian hybrid attacks against Lithuania" will take place on Thursday, December 18.