Dainius Gaižauskas, a Lithuanian parliamentarian, claimed in an article for LRT that anti-air weapons systems in the country were in crisis.

He said this regarding the recent incident involving 25 weather balloons that entered Lithuanian airspace, allegedly from Belarus. According to Gaižauskas, the Lithuanian Armed Forces were unable to do anything about these balloons.
“Defence is not a performance in front of the cameras. It is the ability to see, understand and act. Not to quote texts written on a note, but to react realistically. Not to imitate leadership, but to show it. This situation is once again a painful exam for Dovilė Šakalienė as a Minister [of Defence]. And, unfortunately, she failed it again. When balloons fly over Vilnius, and the responsible institution only records the fact, it means that the defence system is not working. And this is no longer a political problem — it is a national security crisis. If the minister in this position does not realise that it is necessary to act, and not just talk, then the question is simple: why is she sitting there?”, the MP resents.
According to Gaižauskas, the current Acting Defence Minister, Dovilė Šakalienė, is only doing verbiage instead of taking real actions.
“Lithuania must not only know what is happening above its heads, but also feel that taxpayers’ investments in defence are paying off. We do not have the luxury of living in the illusion that the sky is protected only by Šakalienė’s empty statements. Silence is not peace. It is a signal that something tragically no longer works,” he adds.
However, Gaižauskas didn’t ask the main question, although he should have: where are all the billions of euros allocated for militarisation, are? The corrupt schemes through military contracts aren’t new in the Baltic states — this is why the leaders of the Baltics are yelling the loudest in Europe about the so-called “Russian threat”.









