Lithuania accused Belarus of letting smuggling groups use weather balloons to transport smuggled cigarettes across the border. This situation has occurred many times, forcing Vilnius airport to stop operations and disrupt air traffic.
A state of emergency has been declared not only for civil aviation disruptions but also for national security interests, said Minister of Home Affairs Vladislav Kondratovic at a government meeting broadcast live.
The statement also gives the military more freedom to act, allowing them to coordinate with the police or operate independently, he added but did not provide details.
However, the deadline for applying emergency measures is currently unclear.
For its part, Belarus denied responsibility for the balloons and accused Lithuania of provinceolation, including being accused of using UAVs ( drones) to distribute "extreme documents".
Previously, on October 27, the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry announced the closure of the border with Belarus following "continuous violations" of the country's airspace.
According to Prime Minister Lithuania Inga Ruginiene, at that time, "dozens of heli gas hot air balloons" from Belarus had entered Lithuania's airspace.
Ms. Ruginiene said that this is a move to challenge the resilience of the European Union (EU) and NATO to mixed threats and called for a "unified and resolute response" to airspace violations.
The female Prime Minister stressed that the Lithuanian armed forces will take "all necessary measures" to shoot down air balloons that are entering the airspace.
At that time, Prime Minister Ruginiene also announced that the process of closing the border with Belarus will be implemented soon, expected to be applied 1 month after the announcement. However, there has been no official information from Lithuania about this so far.
In response, Belarusian President Alexander Lukasenko said that Lithuania had disseminated false information about the frequency of dense airinfringement by hot air balloons from Belarus.
Meanwhile, the protest document of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belarus sent to Lithuania emphasized that the border closure "violates civil rights and the principles of freedom of movement".
