Vilnius Airport Photo: Petras Malukas / AFP / Profimedia
The airport in the capital of Lithuania, Vilnius, was reopened on Saturday evening, a few hours after it had been closed due to the appearance of suspicious balloons in the Lithuanian airspace, this being the latest such incident in recent months, informs Reuters, taken over by Agerpres.
Air traffic was resumed at 17:31 GMT, Vilnius airport authorities announced.
Located just 30 kilometers from the border with Belarus, the Vilnius airport has been closed at least ten times since the beginning of October due to similar incidents. The previous incident of this kind was recorded on December 3.
Lithuania to declare state of emergency due to smuggling balloons launched from Belarus: “We do not rule out taking additional measures”
The Baltic state, a member of NATO and the European Union, has long been accusing the neighboring country of Belarus, a close ally of Russia, of waging a hybrid war.
Vilnius authorities said that the balloons are sent from Belarus by cigarette traffickers, but they also accuse Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko, a close ally of Russian leader Vladimir Putin. Suspicious balloon incidents prompted Lithuania to temporarily close its two border crossings with Belarus at the end of October.
In response, authorities in Minsk blocked Lithuanian trucks from entering Belarus and banned them from leaving the country without first paying a tax, which Vilnius denounced as an “act of hostage-taking” by Belarus.
