{"id":244791,"date":"2025-10-27T20:02:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-27T20:02:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/244791\/"},"modified":"2025-10-27T20:02:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-27T20:02:11","slug":"lithuania-vows-to-shoot-down-belarus-smuggler-balloons-disrupting-air-traffic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/244791\/","title":{"rendered":"Lithuania vows to shoot down Belarus smuggler balloons disrupting air traffic"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lithuania has drawn up plans to shut its border crossings with Belarus indefinitely, after the capital’s airport was repeatedly disrupted by suspected sightings of balloons carrying contraband cigarettes.<\/p>\n

The repeated disruption has prompted the country’s prime minister to vow to shoot down balloons, accusing its Russian-backed neighbour of being part of a campaign of “hybrid warfare” against NATO.<\/p>\n

Lithuania’s National Security Commission met on Monday after balloon sightings prompted the suspension of air traffic at Vilnius Airport the past three evenings, causing cancellations, diversions and delays.<\/p>\n

On Friday, the Kaunas airport, which is further from the Belarusian border, was also affected. The incidents followed similar disruption, early on Wednesday, and on other recent occasions<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Lithuania’s two border crossings with Belarus, at Medininkai and \u0160al\u010dininkai, were both closed for several hours as a result of the balloon incidents, in a move that has been denounced by the Belarusian government.<\/p>\n

\"Ryanair<\/p>\n

Vilnius Airport has been repeatedly closed due to balloons entering its airspace. (Reuters: Andrius Sytas)<\/p>\n

The country’s border guard service decided overnight Sunday to close the border for 24 hours, the BNS news agency reported.<\/p>\n

Lithuania Prime Minister Inga Ruginien\u0117 said the border restrictions would be extended until Wednesday, when her cabinet is expected to decide whether to prolong the closure indefinitely, BNS reported.<\/p>\n

Maps reveal Russia’s shadow drone war against Europe<\/a><\/p>\n

Experts say peaceful European NATO nations that support Ukraine have repeatedly been targeted by mysterious drone incursions in the past month.<\/p>\n

Ms Ruginien\u0117 said on Monday the government had already drawn up a draft decision to shut the border indefinitely, with exemptions for diplomats and diplomatic mail.<\/p>\n

Lithuanian and other European Union citizens also would still be allowed to enter from Belarus.<\/p>\n

Ms Ruginien\u0117 said Lithuania would begin to shoot down the balloons, calling the incidents “hybrid attacks”.<\/p>\n

“Today we have decided to take the strictest measures, there is no other way,” Ms Ruginien\u0117 told reporters.<\/p>\n

The prime minister added her government may also discuss invoking NATO article 4 security consultations.<\/p>\n

Article 4 states that NATO members will consult together whenever, in the opinion of any of them, the territory, political independence or security of any of them is threatened.<\/p>\n

Belarus calls move ‘provocation’<\/p>\n

Lithuania, an EU and NATO member, is located on the Western alliance’s eastern flank. It borders Russia’s Kaliningrad exclave as well as Russia-allied Belarus.<\/p>\n

Lithuania has said balloons have been sent by smugglers transporting contraband cigarettes, but has also blamed Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, for not stopping the practice.<\/p>\n

Belarusian Foreign Minister Maxim Ryzhenkov has denounced the the move to shut the border, describing it as a “provocation”.<\/p>\n

Mr Ryzhenkob said Lithuanian authorities should focus their attention on “organized gangs of Lithuanians who use smuggling for profit.”<\/p>\n

“These balloons with smuggled cigarettes have been flying there for ages,” he said in a statement.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“But, most interestingly, we haven’t received any diplomatic notes.”<\/p>\n

\"Angled<\/p>\n

Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya has thrown her support behind Lithuania’s plans to close its Belarus border crossings. (Reuters:\u00a0Kacper Pempel)<\/p>\n

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 a tool of hybrid aggression against Europe”.<\/p>\n

“The closure of border crossings is a logical step to protect security,” she said.<\/p>\n

“We support Lithuania and its partners in strengthening sanctions against producers, transporters, and organisers of cigarette smuggling.”<\/p>\n

European aviation has repeatedly been thrown into chaos<\/a> in recent weeks by drone sightings and other air incursions, including at airports in Copenhagen, Munich and the Baltic region.<\/p>\n

On Thursday Lithuania said two Russian military aircraft had entered its airspace for about 18 seconds, prompting a formal protest and a reaction from NATO forces, while Russia denied the incident.<\/p>\n

Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys said recent airspace violations should not be regarded as isolated incidents.<\/p>\n

“These are calculated provocations designed to destabilize, distract (and) test NATO’s resolve,” he said on social media X.<\/p>\n

AP\/Reuters<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lithuania has drawn up plans to shut its border crossings with Belarus indefinitely, after the capital’s airport was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":244792,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[145684,145682,66836,75345,8625,18679,43255,36569,3978,2057,43,145685,58827,66172,44,2016,145683,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-244791","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-airspace","tag-balloon","tag-belarus","tag-border","tag-cigarettes","tag-closure","tag-contraband","tag-crossing","tag-drones","tag-europe","tag-headlines","tag-incursions","tag-lithuania","tag-nato","tag-news","tag-russia","tag-sightings","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244791","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=244791"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244791\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/244792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}