Dozens of weather balloons used by smugglers to get cigarettes from Belarus into Lithuania halted air traffic at Vilnius Airport on Tuesday 21 to Wednesday 22 October, for several hours. About 30 flights and 4,000 passengers were effected by delays. The Lithuanian government is angry at the Belorussian authorities for not stopping the balloons.
“We will respond firmly to repeated airspace violations,” Lithuanian Prime Minister Inga Ruginienė said on Thursday, 23 October. The country temporarily closed its remaining open border crossings with Belarus, at Medininkai and Šalčininkai—stopping transports of all non-humanitarian goods as well.
Belarus siding with Russia
Siding with Russia in the Moscow-waged war on Ukraine, Belarus regularly clashes with its western neighbours of Poland and Lithuania. Both countries also accuse the authorities in Minsk of pushing immigrants across the borders, in an attempt to destabilise its neighbouring nations.
Weather balloons are commonly used to carry meteorological equipment, to aid in weather forecasts or for scientific research. | © 2025 Marcel Burger, nordicreporter.com. Featured image of white balloon against a blue sky AI generated with Adobe Firefly