December 4, Pozirk. The Lithuanian foreign ministry summoned a Belarusian diplomat yesterday to hand another note of protest over the ongoing airspace incursions from Belarus and what is called a deliberate seizure of Lithuanian trucks.
Smugglers’ weather balloons launched from Belarus are a part of a hybrid attack against Lithuania, disrupting the operation of Vilnius International Airport and posing a threat to the safety of civil aviation, the ministry said in a statement.
Vilnius demanded that Minsk “fulfil its international obligations and immediately take all measures to ensure control of its airspace and state border in order to prevent such violations and to take specific and effective actions to curb crimes of an international nature committed by organized criminals.”
The ministry also stressed that Lithuania would notify international organizations about the risks and threats to international cargo transport through Belarus if Minsk fails to end what it called economic blackmail and return the illegally seized trucks.
Lithuania reserves the right to take appropriate legal action, hold the Belarusian authorities accountable, seek compensation for the damages incurred and undertake other countermeasures, it added.
Later in the evening, the Vilnius Airport, located close to the Belarusian border, had to suspend operations three times after the detection of what may have been weather balloons in the area. Restrictions affected 27 flights and more than 3,000 passengers.
Yesterday’s air traffic restrictions marked the sixth such incident since Lithuania reopened the Medininkai–Kamienny Łoh and Šalčininkai–Bieniakoni border crossings on November 20. The checkpoints were closed from October 29, following the launches of cigarette-smuggling balloons from Belarus.
