According to BNN-news and LSM, Latvia's National Border Guard (NBS) radar tracked seven to eight smuggling balloons crossing from Belarus into the Latgale region during the night of 23–24 November 2025 (21:00–04:00 UTC) — the first such event documented in Latvia. The balloons carried more than 720,000 cigarettes in total, contained in GPS-fitted pods designed to be located by ground teams after landing on the Latvian side. AirVeto's wind reconstruction at 700 hPa (approximately 3,000 m) covers the northeastern Latgale corridor during the overnight crossing window. Link to locale landing: `/lv/kontrabandos-balionai` · methodology
Illustrative file photo. This image is not from the incident described — it shows a contraband-type balloon of the kind deployed along the Belarusian frontier.
Seven balloons in one night — Latvia's highest-volume event
The NBS radar track of seven to eight balloons in a single night was the first documented balloon-smuggling event in Latvia — establishing that the Belarus corridor extended beyond Lithuania and Poland into Latvian airspace. This was not a new high-water mark for Latvia; it was the first data point. The event confirmed that the smuggling network's operational reach extended to Latgale.
Each balloon carried a pod containing approximately 60,000–120,000 cigarettes; the confirmed total across the night exceeded 720,000 cigarettes, consistent with large-capacity helium weather balloons used across the Belarusian frontier. The GPS trackers sewn into the cargo pods serve the same function AirVeto's wind model serves from the outside: real-time location tracking of where a wind-borne object is heading and where it lands.
NBS confirmed that radar contact was maintained for each of the seven balloons throughout their crossing; the subsequent ground recovery on the Latvian side was a matter for border police and customs.
Latgale's geographic position mirrors the Podlaskie corridor
Latgale is the easternmost region of Latvia, sharing a border with both Belarus and Russia. Its terrain — flat agricultural land interspersed with lakes and forest — is well-suited to balloon operations: ground recovery teams can reach landing zones without crossing major infrastructure, and low population density reduces the likelihood of civilian witnesses.
The Belarus–Latgale crossing axis is geographically parallel to the Belarus–Podlaskie axis in northeastern Poland, approximately 250 km to the south. Both corridors operate under the same logic: balloons are launched from Belarusian territory at night, carried westward by the dominant synoptic flow, and recovered by waiting ground teams. The two corridors appear to be operated by separate networks using similar methods.
The Latgale corridor connects to the May 2026 drone pressure
The November 2025 balloon corridor documented in this event becomes the backdrop for the May 2026 drone alerts in the same geographic zone. The 19 May 2026 five-county drone shelter and the 21 May 2026 Latgale drone threat both cover the same Latgale border zone. The escalation from balloon-sized cargo objects in late 2025 to UAVs in spring 2026 tracks the broader pattern across the Baltic states: balloons establish the corridor, drones follow.
Wind layer — 700 hPa over the Latgale crossing zone on 23–24 November
AirVeto's wind reconstruction covers the 700 hPa pressure level (approximately 3,000 m, the cruising altitude of helium smuggling balloons) over the Latgale border zone during the crossing window of the night of 23–24 November 2025. The embed above renders the wind field; methodology is described on the AirVeto methodology page.
At 3,000 m over the Latgale plain in late November, synoptic winds are typically easterly to northeasterly as the Siberian High extends westward across the Baltic. A balloon released from 5–15 km inside Belarus on an easterly flow reaches Latvian territory within one to two hours.