Lithuania plans to close Belarus border indefinitely, shoot down balloons violating airspace

By Ilayda Cakirtekin

ISTANBUL (AA) - Lithuanian Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene announced on Monday plans to close the country’s border with Belarus indefinitely and shoot down any balloons violating its airspace, following four such incidents in a week.

Ruginiene convened a meeting of the National Security Commission where "a clear algorithm" for government's future actions was presented after Vilnius Airport suspended its operations for four times in a week due to balloon sightings.

She reaffirmed that the government has already prepared a decision to close the border with Belarus indefinitely with certain exceptions, according to public broadcaster LRT.

"This means that diplomats and diplomatic mail will be able to move, and our and EU citizens will also be able to enter us from Belarus, but all other movement will be closed. This is how we send a signal to Belarus and say that no hybrid attack will be tolerated here, we will take all the strictest measures to stop such attacks," she said.

Ruginiene also said that the military will take all necessary measures to stop the balloons that flows in by using "kinetic means" to shoot down the balloons.

She said that they will also coordinate a package of additional sanctions against Belarus with the EU Ministry.

"This will be done soon. We are also actively consulting and communicating with our allies and our neighbors Poland and Latvia. Any of our actions are also coordinated with them, we are not a separate state, we are part of NATO and the EU. We coordinate everything we do with them," Ruginiene added.

She also announced that a new draft amendment to the Criminal Code will be presented at a government meeting on Wednesday to legalize imprisonment as a "highest and most severe" punishment for smuggling.

Ruginiene's announcements came after the country closed the Vilnius Airport and its border crossings with Belarus late Sunday for the third consecutive night after balloons were detected in the country’s airspace.

"Since approximately 10:10 p.m., the passage of vehicles and persons through the Medininkai and Salcininkai border checkpoints has been temporarily suspended due to balloons flying into Lithuania from Belarus," the Lithuania's crisis management service said.

The Vilnius Airport also announced on US social media platform Facebook that air traffic was temporarily suspended due to balloons flying in its direction, adding that the airspace was reopened early Monday.

The incident marks the third consecutive night since Friday that the border was closed after the airport was forced to suspend operations due to balloon sightings.

The airport also had to suspend operations on Tuesday after “meteorological balloons” were detected, marking the fourth such incident in a week.

“Our information and experience show that air balloons have so far been used solely for smuggling,” Lithuania’s border chief Rustamas Liubajevas told LRT on Friday.