“ Lithuania closed its capital’s airport and both border crossings with Belarus on Saturday evening after helium balloons flew into the Baltic country for the second day in a row. Source: Reuters Traffic at Vilnius airport was suspended until 2 a.m. local time. According to Lithuanian officials, the border with Belarus will be closed until the same time. Officially, Lithuania states that the balloons are used by cigarette smugglers. At the same time, he places political responsibility on the regime of the Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, a close ally of the Russian ruler Vladimir Putin, accusing him of deliberately not preventing this illegal activity. Lithuanian Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene said on Friday that the country’s National Security Commission will meet next week to assess the situation. What preceded: Lithuania resorted to extraordinary security measures on Saturday night, closing the country’s two largest airports and checkpoints on the border with Belarus. The reason was a massive invasion of its airspace by helium weather balloons, which became the third such incident in the last month. Background: Vilnius airport was already closed for similar reasons this Tuesday, as well as on October 5. On October 23, two Russian planes from the Kaliningrad region invaded the airspace of Lithuania.”, — write: www.pravda.com.ua
Vilnius airport, photo: skytraxratings Source: Reuters
Traffic at the Vilnius airport was suspended until 2 a.m. local time.
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According to Lithuanian officials, the border with Belarus will be closed until the same time.
Officially, Lithuania states that the balloons are used by cigarette smugglers. At the same time, he places political responsibility on the regime of the Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, a close ally of the Russian ruler Vladimir Putin, accusing him of deliberately not preventing this illegal activity.
Lithuanian Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene said on Friday that the country’s National Security Commission will meet next week to assess the situation.
What preceded: Lithuania resorted to extraordinary security measures on Saturday night, closing the country’s two largest airports and checkpoints on the border with Belarus. The reason was a massive invasion of its airspace by helium weather balloons, which became the third such incident in the last month.
Prehistory:
- Vilnius airport was already closed for similar reasons this Tuesday, as well as on October 5.
- On October 23, two Russian planes from the Kaliningrad region invaded the airspace of Lithuania.