Lithuania’s border service has closed its border with Belarus for 24 hours after flights at the capital’s airport were repeatedly disrupted by balloons.
The decision was made last night, and there is a possibility of an indefinite closure.
Last Friday, the same thing happened at Kaunas airport, which is a little further from the Belarusian border.
Two of Lithuania’s border crossings with Belarus, in Medininkai and Šalčininkai, were closed for several hours due to incidents involving balloons.
Lithuania’s National Security Committee met after balloons were spotted at Vilnius airport for three consecutive nights, leading to flight cancellations, diversions and delays.
Cigarette smuggling as a tool of hybrid aggression
Lithuanian Prime Minister Inga Ruginienė announced today that Lithuania has a plan to close its border crossings with Belarus indefinitely.
She said the current restrictions would be extended until Wednesday, when her cabinet would decide whether to extend the closure indefinitely.
Ruginienė said the government had already prepared a draft decision to close the border indefinitely, with exceptions for diplomats and diplomatic mail.
Lithuanian citizens and other European Union citizens would still be allowed to enter from Belarus.
Lithuania, a member of the EU and NATO, is on the eastern flank of the Western alliance and borders Russia and Belarus.
Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who lives in exile in Lithuania, told The Associated Press that the balloon incidents were “another sign that the regime is using cigarette smuggling as a tool of hybrid aggression against Europe.”
“Closing border crossings is a logical step to protect security. We support Lithuania and its partners in strengthening sanctions against manufacturers, transporters and organizers of cigarette smuggling,” Tsikhanouskaya said.
Provocation and expansion of sanctions
Meanwhile, Belarus reacted to Lithuania’s decision to close the border between the two countries, calling it “a provocation designed to justify anti-Belarusian policy and expand sanctions,” the Russian news agency Tass reported, as reported by The Guardian.
It added that the border closure is already having its first practical consequences, as the state-owned Minsktrans company has canceled several bus routes to Latvia and Lithuania “due to the closure of Lithuanian border crossings.”
