December 5, Pozirk. The Lithuanian government is preparing to declare a state of emergency as balloon incursions from Belarus threaten public security, Ignas Dobrovolskas, advisor to the Lithuanian prime minister, has told ELTA.
The official did not comment on whether the decision can be made as early as today.
The comment came as cigarette-smuggling balloons keep disrupting civil aviation in Lithuania. The Vilnius International Airport, located close to the Belarusian border, has had to suspend operations on numerous occasions since mid-October over airspace violations from Belarus. The most recent incident was reported on the night of December 4.
Earlier this week, Lithuanian Interior Minister Vladislav Kondratovič said that nearly 600 cigarette-smuggling weather balloons and 197 drones have been spotted in Lithuania since January, with tensions rising significantly since October. The incidents disrupted hundreds of flights.
Vilnius is looking forward to the arrival of the NATO support group for repelling hybrid attacks, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys told NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte in a phone call yesterday.
Minsk is not combating smugglers and is deliberately attacking Vilnius Airport with contraband balloons in order to disrupt its operations, Budrys said.
In recent days, Lithuanian law enforcers and border guards have carried out large-scale raids, seizing smuggled Belarusian cigarettes and arresting suspects.
