Lithuania has intensified sanctions against Belarus following revelations that Minsk is providing direct military infrastructure support to Russia's war against Ukraine, marking a significant escalation in the regime's role beyond passive enabler to active participant.On February 18, Ukraine imposed additional sanctions on Alexander Lukashenko's regime after Ukrainian hackers from InformNapalm uncovered evidence that Belarus has been establishing radio relay stations and providing civilian infrastructure that extends Russian drone strike ranges into Ukrainian territory.According to Ukrainian intelligence sources, at least 3,000 Belarusian companies are contributing components and support to Russia's military-industrial complex. This winter, these contributions directly enabled Russian attacks focused on destroying Ukraine's electrical grid—strikes targeting civilian infrastructure that constitute war crimes under international law."If you lend a car to rob a bank, you're prosecuted as an accomplice to the robbery," noted Lithuanian security analysts in online discussions. "Belarus allowing Russia to build relay stations and providing civilian infrastructure to extend drone ranges makes them direct participants in these war crimes."In the Baltics, as on NATO's eastern flank, geography and history create an acute awareness of security realities. Lithuanian analysts emphasize that Belarus is not a passive neighbor but an active executor of Russian strategic objectives, pointing to a documented pattern of hybrid aggression against the Baltic states.The Lukashenko regime has conducted hybrid migrant attacks against Lithuania, Latvia, and Poland in coordination with Russia, systematically violated Baltic airspace with balloon incursions, seized Lithuanian trucks in apparent reprisal operations, and maintained persistent disinformation and cyber campaigns against all three Baltic nations."Belarus is escalating its aggression against us, not de-escalating," Lithuanian government sources noted. "Rewarding them with sanctions relief or normalization of relations while they remain a direct instrument of Russian aggression would be profoundly misguided."The sanctions announcement comes as Russia faces potential setbacks in Ukraine, raising Baltic concerns that Moscow may seek to open additional pressure points along NATO's eastern frontier. Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian defense ministries have all increased readiness postures in recent months, with joint exercises emphasizing rapid response to hybrid threats.Lithuanian officials stress that any discussion of engaging with Minsk must acknowledge the regime's direct complicity in Russian war crimes. "This is not about punishing Belarus for being neutral," security experts noted. "They're an active belligerent providing infrastructure for attacks on civilian targets. That demands consequences, not engagement."The Baltic position reflects broader concerns about Western resolve on NATO's eastern flank, where former Soviet republics maintain institutional memory of Russian strategic thinking and assess threats through that experiential lens—often ahead of Western European allies who lack direct historical context with Moscow's methods.