 "Lithuania declares 'emergency situation' over Belarusian balloon incursions")
The government in Lithuania has declared a “nationwide emergency situation” after weather balloons from neighbouring Belarus entered the country carrying smuggled cigarettes.
Lithuanian Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene condemned the balloon incursions, saying that they pose a threat to the country’s national security and civil aviation.
Officials say that so far this year, nearly 600 smuggling-related balloons and almost 200 drones have entered Lithuanian airspace, repeatedly forcing the closure of Vilnius Airport.
Lithuania’s “emergency situation” falls below a state of emergency, which was imposed in the country in 2022 following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Belarus denies responsibility
Meanwhile, Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko has rejected his country’s involvement in the incursions, saying that Lithuania is “politicising” the issue.
“It is unrealistic. Even if balloons flew into there, even if they did, I have spoken to pilots and they say that they pose no problem. The question arises why? Do they want to fight us? We do not need war. I am convinced that the Lithuanian people do not need war either. Neither do Poles, Latvians and Estonians,” Lukashenko said.
Belarus’s long-time leader is a close ally of Russia’s Vladimir Putin, and Lithuania’s president, Gitanas Nausėda, has said there is ample evidence that the balloon activity is a “deliberate action aimed at destabilising the situation in Lithuania.”
The latest threat forced Lithuania to shut two border checkpoints with Belarus in October, following which Minsk barred Lithuanian trucks from driving on its roads.
“We are talking about aviation security and international law, and about the fact that such actions could be recognised as terrorism,” Ruginiene said last week.
The weather balloons can reach altitudes of up to 10 km (6 miles), and Lithuania’s interior ministry says they have forced Vilnius Airport to close for more than 60 hours since October. In October alone, around 30,000 passengers were affected.
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View All‘Hybrid war’
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen last week said that Belarusian incursions into the Lithuanian airspace are “hybrid attacks,” as Belarus’ representative in Brussels was summoned.
“The situation at the border with Belarus is worsening, with the growing incursions of smuggling balloons into Lithuania’s airspace,” von der Leyen said, as she met Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda.
The EU is drawing up new sanctions against the Belarusian government. In turn, Belarus summoned a Lithuanian envoy for a dressing down over a drone crash, the latest in a swirl of diplomatic standoffs between the neighbouring post-Soviet states.
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