Balloons prompt Lithuania to declare national crisis
Repeated balloon incursions from Belarus have prompted Lithuanian Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene to declare a state of emergency in the country.
The balloons, which in some cases are said to have weighed upwards of 50-60 kilos and can fly just over a mile, have repeatedly forced the airport in the capital Vilnius to close during the autumn.
Lithuania claims the balloons are being sent deliberately to disrupt Lithuanian airspace and thus constitute an attack on civil aviation, and EU chief Ursula von der Leyen this week threatened sanctions against Belarus over what she calls “hybrid attacks”.
At the end of October, Lithuania closed the border with Belarus, Ruginiene then said that invading balloons should be shot down.
According to observers, smugglers use weather balloons to transport Belarusian cigarettes which are then sold in the EU, where tobacco is more expensive. But Lithuania has also leveled accusations against Russia, which is believed to be behind the “psychological hybrid operations”.
(TT)
