MOSCOW, November 11. /TASS/. The Baltic countries are trying to provoke Russia into an act that would activate Article 5 of the Washington Collective Defense Treaty, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with Russian media, including TASS.

"They have been tasked with creating as many problems as possible in relations with the Russian Federation. And at the same time provoke Russia into an act that they will then try to sell to Washington as a basis for launching serious hostilities based on Article 5 of the Washington Treaty," he said.

Commenting on Lithuania’s proposals to limit transit to Kaliningrad, Lavrov said the European Union is every bit as responsible as Lithuania here. "Therefore, the European Union, of course, should think about what responsibility it has for the behavior of its members who are going off the rails," he said.

On October 26, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda proposed limiting Kaliningrad transit and closing the border with Belarus for a long time amid the ongoing incidents with balloons. According to Vilnius, Belarusian smugglers use weather balloons to transport cigarettes, and in the last month it has become widespread. However, no such incidents were recorded from the Kaliningrad Region of Russia.