llredakcija@gmail.com
December 8, 2025

Noselis

Could it be that the entire Russian “hybrid attack” using balloons against the Republic of Lithuania and its democratically elected government is actually an attempt by Lithuania’s own special services to regain power — in other words, to bring the conservative government back to power?

This thought has been bothering me for a long time, although soon people may begin to be imprisoned for such thoughts — former President Grybauskaitė’s adviser Ulbinaitė’s initiative to criminalize personal opinion labelled as “disinformation” is already making its way through the Seimas.

There are too many coincidences to believe the official version that “the Russians” and “Batka” organised a hybrid air attack against Lithuania. Lithuanian meteorologists openly say that it is entirely possible that these balloons are launched from within Lithuanian territory, since very specific weather conditions — wind direction and speed — are needed for the balloons to fly, for example, toward Vilnius.

On the other hand, considering that cigarette smuggling is allegedly controlled by individuals closely linked to Nausėda’s “court”, it becomes unclear what “Batka” has to do with it.

Nauseda’s appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs, previously employed by the State Security Department (VSD), Budrys, visited Lazdijai Municipality, where in addition to official events he also took part in informal ones — meeting with a well-known smuggler, Arūnas Noselis. On the left — former border guard Arūnas Noselis, dismissed from the Border Guard Service for “discrediting the office”, detained this February in the Raseiniai district while escorting a truck loaded with contraband cigarettes. The case is under investigation. On the right — former deputy director of the VSD, former presidential adviser on national security, and now “fighter against Lukashenko’s regime’s mass hybrid attack on Lithuania’s critical infrastructure” — Minister Kęstutis Budrys. The meeting and lunch were organised by Lazdijai mayor Auksma Miškinienė, a member and confidante of Saulius Skvernelis’s Democratic party.

Vilma Matusevičiūtė-Danauskienė uploaded this photograph. In her view, Belarusian cigarette smuggling and its organisers, together with their “protection” in politics, law enforcement, and the justice system, have as much to do with the Belarusian authorities as any large-scale criminal enterprise does — it’s just business. Just business, nothing personal.

From the Lithuanian side, this is a business protected at the highest state level, broadly tolerated and justified by society, and one which has sustained Lithuania’s border regions for decades — across generations.

The first and second photographs posted here were taken approximately three hours apart. The first was taken on May 2 this year at the well-known Lazdijai restaurant “777”, owned by none other than Arūnas Noselis.

A former border guard, now a prosperous businessman vacationing in Italy with priests and donating to churches, at whose state- or EU-funded business openings the whole elite can be seen.

The opening of Restaurant 777, where Budrys met with border officers, also featured Lithuania’s “smuggling king” Vilius Karalius (pictured above).

More than a decade ago, the media widely reported on this then-border guard, as Mr. Arūnas, while on duty, in uniform, and using a border service vehicle, drove to the Sovietsk–Kybartai duty-free shop and purchased contraband alcohol.

He was dismissed from the Border Guard Service for discrediting the title of officer, yet he did not abandon the “business,” and in operational reports he was mentioned alongside newly built facilities as being linked to cigarette and illegal migrant transportation.

Until February this year, when he was detained in the Raseiniai district while escorting a truck full of contraband cigarettes.

The case remains under investigation. Meanwhile, on May 2 this year, Mr. Arūnas took photos in his own restaurant with the then and current Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Kęstutis Budrys.

That same spring day, Budrys gave a lecture at Motiejus Gustaitis Gymnasium about the importance of the European Union for Lithuanians — information which still appears on the Ministry’s website.

And what a coincidence: after that lecture, Budrys did not choose one of the at least three eateries near the school, but instead drove across town to a restaurant owned by the smuggler, where he happily posed for photos with “Don Pedro” himself.

Please tell me — could a former high-ranking VSD official, former presidential adviser, and then Minister of National Defense really be so naïve as not to know where he was and with whom he was posing for photographs?

Please tell me — did not a single person in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Lazdijai municipal administration, the minister’s accompanying entourage, or among his former colleagues warn him that this photo would not only damage his reputation but also send a terrible message to society and to prosecutors who had only three months earlier opened a case against the restaurant owner?

I hope it is unnecessary to explain what effect such a photograph has on police investigators.

Rūta Janutienė pointed out that Budrys was wearing the same trousers that day.

Lazdijai mayor Auksma Miškinienė is a long-time ally of Saulius Skvernelis. Although she submitted fuel receipts that were allegedly not her own but appeared to have been taken from petrol station trash bins, and although this caused certain issues, she avoided criminal prosecution. Although the “Democrats” suspended her from the party, Skvernelis still came to Lazdijai to open a new sports centre together with her.

Even more amusing, Nausėda’s wife, Diana Nausėdienė, also traveled to Lazdijai to meet Noselis.

More amusing still, Auksma used as many as 49 bank cards to account for fuel expenses and avoided criminal investigation for document forgery and abuse of office, while other mayors in similar cases ended up in the dock. Why did the “promising” and again Nausėda-nominated candidate for Prosecutor General, Nida Grunskienė, “take pity” on Auksma and decline to open a criminal case?

“Prosecutors are going after municipal councillors, mainly Social Democrats, over the ‘receipts’ scandal,” says Artūras Orlauskas. “This shows prosecutorial selectivity: some get criminal charges, others only civil cases, and for some nothing at all. This judicial and prosecutorial selectivity damages the institutions themselves.”

According to Orlauskas, the so-called balloons are launched from Lithuanian territory to divert attention from the real smuggling that is carried out by trucks. Meanwhile, Skvernelis proposes confiscating the Belarus sanatorium in Druskininkai, knowing full well that it cannot be done. Why does a former police chief not propose catching the smugglers instead?

“There are simply too many coincidences: a mayor transporting a minister formerly tied to the VSD, posing with a known smuggler, and not even attempting to hide these connections — it is a spit in the face of society,” Orlauskas says.

“That is why I believe these balloons are a distraction operation — to overthrow the current government and return the ‘deep state.’ The Social Democrats are packed with conservatives to the point that they no longer know who is who. Skvernelis is part of that chain. Who pressures local police is clear to everyone.”