{"id":165440,"date":"2025-11-24T17:36:06","date_gmt":"2025-11-24T14:36:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/165440\/"},"modified":"2026-03-09T20:10:49","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T20:10:49","slug":"lithuanias-security-committee-to-meet-this-week-to-consider-closing-belarus-border","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/165440\/","title":{"rendered":"Lithuania\u2019s security committee to meet this week to consider closing Belarus border"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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November 24, Pozirk.<\/em><\/strong> Lithuanian Prime Minister Inga Ruginien\u0117 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The move comes four days after Lithuania reopened the Medininkai\u2013Kamienny \u0141oh and \u0160al\u010dininkai\u2013Bieniakoni checkpoints, which had been closed from October 29 to November 20 due to the same incidents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe 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,\u201d Ruginien\u0117 said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She noted that Vilnius has also been in talks with the European Commission regarding \u201cMinsk\u2019s decision to seize Lithuanian trucks\u201d as well as \u201ca new package of sanctions against Belarus.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cigarette-smuggling balloons launched from Belarus have disrupted civil aviation flights in Lithuania, while the seizure of trucks has affected Lithuania\u2019s economy, Foreign Minister K\u0119stutis Budrys said earlier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Three days ago, the Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned a Belarusian diplomat to deliver a note of protest over what it described as \u201cdiscriminatory actions against Lithuanian carriers.\u201d Vilnius stressed that the refusal to release Lithuanian trucks constitutes a \u201cdeliberate seizure of property and a gross violation of universally recognized norms of international law.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The air traffic restrictions marked the second such incident since Lithuania reopened the Medininkai\u2013Kamienny \u0141oh and \u0160al\u010dininkai\u2013Bieniakoni border crossings, apparently after receiving assurances from Minsk that it would crack down on cigarette smugglers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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