According to him, the radars recorded ten marks. One of the balloons was in “a very dangerous zone, which is located on the landing and take-off trajectory of Vilnius airport.”
Vitkauskas said that the ball was detected in an area “dangerous for its neutralization,” and the wind direction was very changeable, so the military “watched and waited” for the target to leave the danger zone.
In addition, several balls, which did not pose any particular danger, were recorded on the border of the Shalchininsky and Varensky districts.
The media recalled that in October, flights of weather balloons from the territory of Belarus several times disrupted the work of the capital’s airport. In this regard, the Lithuanian government, with some exceptions, closed the border with Belarus for a month.
Context
On the night of October 22, several dozen balloons carrying contraband flew into Lithuania, causing The operation of the airport in Vilnius was disrupted. The country's authorities have temporarily closed the Medininkai and Shalchininkai border checkpoints. Prime Minister Inga Ruginienė warned that if such incidents repeat, Lithuania will immediately will close the border with Belarus.
On October 24, Ruginene reported closure of all border crossings with Belarus over a new wave of balloons. Because of this, the operations of Vilnius and Kaunas airports were temporarily suspended. The State Customs Committee of Belarus stated that Lithuania made this decision without prior notification to Minsk.
On the night of October 26, Lithuanian authorities again border crossings were closed after weather balloons appeared in the sky, and Vilnius airport temporarily suspended flights. President Gitanas Nauseda proposed closing the border with Belarus for a longer period and limiting transit to Kaliningrad.
Alexander Lukashenko, who calls himself the president of Belarus, said that the Lithuanians themselves allegedly smuggle contraband cigarettes from Belarus using weather balloons.
