VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — Lithuania's prime minister said Monday that her country has drawn up plans to close border crossings with Belarus indefinitely after flights at the capital's airport were repeatedly disrupted by suspected sightings of balloons used to smuggle cigarettes across the border.
Lithuania's National Safety Committee met after balloon sightings prompted the suspension of air traffic at Vilnius airport on three consecutive evenings – Friday, Saturday and Sunday – causing cancellations, diversions and delays.
On Friday, Kaunas airport, which is further from the Belarusian border, was also hit. The incidents followed similar disruptions early Wednesday and on other recent occasions.
Lithuania's two border crossings with Belarus, at Medininkai and Šalčininkai, were both closed for hours as a result of each of the balloon incidents. The country's border guard decided to close the border for 24 hours on Sunday night, news agency BNS reported.
Prime Minister Inga Ruginienė said the restrictions will be extended until Wednesday, when her cabinet is expected to decide whether to extend the closure indefinitely, BNS reported.
Ruginienė said on Monday that the government has already drawn up a draft decision to close the border indefinitely, with exceptions for diplomats and diplomatic posts. Lithuanians and other European Union citizens would also still be allowed to enter the country from Belarus.
Lithuania, an EU and NATO member, lies on the eastern flank of the Western alliance. It borders the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad and Belarus, allied with Russia.
Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who lives in exile in Lithuania, said in written comments to The Associated Press that the balloon incidents were “yet another sign that the regime is using cigarette smuggling as an instrument of hybrid aggression against Europe.”
“The closure of border crossings is a logical step to protect security,” she said. “We support Lithuania and its partners in strengthening sanctions against producers, transporters and organizers of cigarette smuggling.”
