November 24, Pozirk. Lithuanian Prime Minister Inga Ruginienė has convened a meeting of the National Security Committee for later this week to consider closing the border with Belarus or adopting other measures in response to ongoing incursions by weather balloons used to smuggle cigarettes.
The move comes four days after Lithuania reopened the Medininkai–Kamienny Łoh and Šalčininkai–Bieniakoni checkpoints, which had been closed from October 29 to November 20 due to the same incidents.
“The contraband balloons keep flying and, by all appearances, will keep flying. The border closure proved one thing: we were right that this is a hybrid attack. Belarus engages in illegal actions by holding our trucks and refusing to open the border from its side,” Ruginienė said.
She noted that Vilnius has also been in talks with the European Commission regarding “Minsk’s decision to seize Lithuanian trucks” as well as “a new package of sanctions against Belarus.”
Cigarette-smuggling balloons launched from Belarus have disrupted civil aviation flights in Lithuania, while the seizure of trucks has affected Lithuania’s economy, Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys said earlier.
More than 1,260 trucks registered in Lithuania remain stranded in Belarus. Minsk has barred these vehicles from leaving the country and ordered them moved to guarded parking sites.
Three days ago, the Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned a Belarusian diplomat to deliver a note of protest over what it described as “discriminatory actions against Lithuanian carriers.” Vilnius stressed that the refusal to release Lithuanian trucks constitutes a “deliberate seizure of property and a gross violation of universally recognized norms of international law.”
Last week, Minsk proposed holding consultations between the Belarusian and Lithuanian foreign ministries to establish a mechanism ensuring stable border-crossing procedures and preventing future closures.
Meanwhile, air traffic at Vilnius Airport was restricted at around 7 p.m. on November 23 after the detection of what may have been weather balloons in the area.
Incoming flights from Sharm el-Sheikh and Amsterdam were redirected to Kaunas, while flights from Riga, Paris, Vienna, Oslo, Berlin and Munich were delayed. Flights to and from Helsinki were cancelled, while several outgoing flights were delayed.
The air traffic restrictions marked the second such incident since Lithuania reopened the Medininkai–Kamienny Łoh and Šalčininkai–Bieniakoni border crossings, apparently after receiving assurances from Minsk that it would crack down on cigarette smugglers.
