Lithuania: Balloon Incursions

Debate between Lord Bruce of Bennachie and Lord Kennedy of Southwark

Thursday 18th December 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon (Con)]

My Lords—

[Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms and Chief Whip (Lord Kennedy of Southwark) (Lab Co-op)]

We have plenty of time. We will hear from the Lib Dem Benches next.

[Lord Bruce of Bennachie (LD)]

My Lords, in a normal world, Belarus would be offering co-operation to stop this smuggling, rather than sneering and saying that Lithuania has to solve it. Lithuania has offered €1 million to anybody who can work out how to deal with these balloons. What are we doing, in co-operation with NATO’s centres of excellence in Tallinn and in Helsinki for countering hybrid and cyber threats, to ensure that we can find ways of dealing with the balloons? They represent a threat to the whole of NATO.