On Tuesday, Lithuania declared a state of emergency due to threats to public safety posed by smuggling balloons originating from Belarus, the government said.
Lithuania accuses Belarus of allowing smugglers to use weather balloons to transport contraband cigarettes across the border, forcing Vilnius airport to repeatedly suspend flights and disrupting air traffic.
The duration of the emergency measures was not immediately specified.
Belarus, which allowed its territory to be used for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, denied responsibility for the balloons and accused Lithuania of provocations, including the alleged dispatch of a drone to drop “extremist materials.”
Lithuania, a NATO and European Union member that was formerly part of the Soviet Union, rejected these accusations as false.
