Lithuania extends closure of Belarus border crossings after balloons enter its airspace

VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — Lithuania said Wednesday it will keep the country’s border crossings with Belarus closed for a month after balloons used to smuggle cigarettes across the frontier caused repeated disruption at the capital’s airport, though there will be some exemptions.

The two border crossings with Belarus were closed last week after balloon sightings prompted the suspension of air traffic at Vilnius Airport on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Lithuanian officials view the balloon disruption as a deliberate act by Russia-allied Belarus. Lithuania is a NATO and European Union member on the Western alliance’s eastern flank, and borders Russia’s Kaliningrad exclave as well as Belarus.

Lithuania’s Cabinet decided Wednesday that the crossing at Šalčininkai will be closed altogether and passage through the other — at Medininkai, near Vilnius — will be restricted for the next month, the BNS news agency reported.

Some Lithuanian and EU citizens will still be allowed to pass through Medininkai. Officials also have said that Russians holding a transit document that allows them to travel to Kaliningrad will also be allowed through.

“We believe these measures should send a clear message to our not-so-friendly neighbor, which is making no effort to address the problem,” Interior Minister Vladislav Kondratovic was quoted by BNS as saying during the Cabinet meeting.

Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko on Tuesday denounced Lithuania’s move to close the border as a “mad scam” and part of a “hybrid war” against his country. He suggested that Vilnius itself needs to combat smuggling.

“If air balloons loaded with cigarettes are flying there, I guess they need to solve the issue on their end,” he said. “They didn’t just fly off into nowhere — someone is receiving them there, someone is interested in this. They need to track down those responsible and stop such things at the root.”

Lukashenko said Belarus would apologize if its involvement is established.

While the balloons were ferrying cigarettes, Europe is on high alert after drone intrusions into NATO’s airspace reached an unprecedented scale last month. Some European officials described the incidents as Moscow testing NATO’s response, which raised questions about how prepared the alliance is against Russia.

In Belgium, Defense Minister Theo Francken said that “multiple drones were spotted again” overnight Tuesday into Wednesday above a military base in Marche-en-Famenne in the east of the country. He posted on social platform X that an investigation has been launched but provided no other details.