Lithuania shuts airports, Belarus border crossings after balloon sightings

Helium weather balloons descended into Lithuania’s two biggest airports and closed crossings with Belarus, marking the third such incident to occur in the Baltic nation this month.

In recent weeks, drone sightings and other airborne incursions have caused chaos in European aviation, including at airports in Copenhagen, Munich, and the Baltic region.

Authorities said the airports in Vilnius and Kaunas were closed until 2 a.m. (23:00 GMT), while the border crossings in Belarus will remain closed until Sunday, midday, for safety reasons.

Lithuania has claimed that balloons are being sent by smugglers to transport illegal cigarettes, but it also points fingers at Belarus’ Alexander Lukashenko, a close ally of Vladimir Putin, for failing to stop the practice.

According to Lithuania’s Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene, “The National Security Commission will meet next week to assess what can be done in the short-term that would hurt the smugglers and Lukashenko’s regime, which allows them to thrive.”

“Twounds of balloons” were discovered by radar on Friday, according to Lithuania’s National Crisis Management Centre.

Authorities reported that the Vilnius airport was closed on Tuesday of this week and on October 5 when smuggler balloons entered the city’s airspace.

Two Russian military aircraft briefly entered Lithuania’s airspace in what appeared to be a new incident coming from Moscow.

When the two aircraft flew 700 meters (0.43 miles) into Lithuania on Thursday at 6pm local time (15:00 GMT), the Lithuanian military said in a statement that they may have been carrying out refueling exercises in the nearby Russian exclave of Kaliningrad.

In response to that incursion, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda stated on X that his nation would immediately summon Russian ambassador representatives in protest of reckless and dangerous behavior. “This is a blatant violation of international law and territorial integrity of…

The Russian government’s Ministry of Defense, however, refuted the claim that an incursion had occurred.

According to the statement, the flights were carried out “in strict compliance” with regulations and “did not deviate from their route and did not infringe on the borders of other states.”

In recent weeks, Russian aircraft and drones have reportedly stricken Estonia and Poland’s airspace.