The National Center for Crisis Management in Lithuania announced that the Baltic country closed Vilnius Airport, today, Saturday, due to the entry of meteorological balloons into the country’s airspace coming from neighboring Belarus, which is the fourth closure of its kind this month.
The center reported that air traffic at the airport was suspended until two in the morning local time (2300 GMT).
Air traffic disruption
Detections of drones and other air incursions have repeatedly disrupted European air traffic in the past few weeks, including at airports in Copenhagen, Munich and the Baltic region.
Lithuania accuses cigarette smuggling groups of launching these balloons, but it also holds Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, responsible for turning a blind eye to these operations.
Lithuanian Prime Minister Inga Rugnine said on Friday that the National Security Committee will meet this week to assess the situation.
