Vilnius Airport authorities, the capital of Lithuania, reported on Monday that operations at the airport had resumed after a new temporary closure for security reasons issued at dawn due to the presence of balloons carrying smuggled goods.
A statement from the airport itself said: “On November 24 at 1:40 am (local time), a series of temporary restrictions were imposed on the airspace around Vilnius Airport. The decision was taken due to navigation problems, in particular due to the presence of balloons heading to this area.”
In this sense, he stressed that the measures have now been withdrawn, which raised alarm bells even though last week the Lithuanian government decided to open two border crossings with Belarus that remained closed as a retaliatory measure for the balloon incidents.
The situation has caused delays in the departure of flights from Vilnius and could cause more problems throughout the day, according to what the authorities said, and they do not rule out imposing new restrictions for security reasons.
Last October, Lithuania closed its border with Belarus due to incidents in the region. In response to these measures, Minsk detained at the border more than a thousand freight vehicles with Lithuanian license plates, for security reasons.
For Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, these measures are part of a “scam,” and he accused Western countries of “opening a hybrid war against Belarus and Russia” through “this new era of divisions.”