BRUSSELS: NATO voiced firm support for Lithuania Tuesday over what Vilnius condemned as a “hybrid attack” on its airspace by Russia’s ally Belarus, involving balloons filled with contraband cigarettes.
The alliance’s Secretary General Mark Rutte said he had spoken with Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda about the incident, in which dozens of balloons forced the temporary closure of two airports last week.
“NATO stands firmly with Lithuania — including through the air policing currently provided by Spain and Hungary as well as the NATO forces led by Germany,” Rutte wrote on X.
Lithuania, a NATO and European Union member, also shut its last two border crossings with neighboring Belarus over the incident.
EU chief Ursula von der Leyen called the balloon incident “a hybrid threat” and said the European Union supported Lithuania.
“This is destabilization. This is provocation,” she said on X, adding that Europe should speed up measures to defend its eastern flank.
The Lithuanian army has now been authorized to shoot down such balloons, Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene told journalists on Monday.
She said Belarus’s lack of action to detain those responsible for the balloons led her to believe the authorities were involved.
Black-market tobacco is a revenue source for Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko’s government, according to the country’s opposition.
Belarusian Foreign Minister Maxim Ryzhenkov rejected Lithuania’s accusations, calling them a “provocation” aimed at justifying “measures against Belarus (and) against Russia.”
NATO stands with Lithuania over balloon incursion: Rutte
https://arab.news/n9jjq
NATO stands with Lithuania over balloon incursion: Rutte
- Dozens of balloons forced the temporary closure of two airports in Lithuania last week
- Authorities shut its last two border crossings with neighboring Belarus over the incident
EU to suspend 93 billion euro retaliatory trade package against US for 6 months
- “With the removal of the tariff threat by the US we can now return to the important business,” Gill said
- The Commission will soon make a proposal “to roll over our suspended countermeasures”
BRUSSELS: The European Commission said on Friday it would propose suspending for another six months an EU package of retaliatory trade measures against the US worth 93 billion euros ($109.19 billion) that would otherwise kick in on February 7.
The package, prepared in the first half of last year when the European Union was negotiating a trade deal with the United States, was put on hold for six months when Brussels and Washington agreed on a joint statement on trade in August 2025.
US President Donald Trump’s threat last week to impose new tariffs on eight European countries over Washington’s push to acquire Greenland had made the retaliatory package a handy tool for the EU to use had Trump followed through on his threat.
“With the removal of the tariff threat by the US we can now return to the important business of implementing the joint EU-US statement,” Commission spokesman Olof Gill said.
The Commission will soon make a proposal “to roll over our suspended countermeasures, which are set to expire on February 7,” Gill said, adding the measures would be suspended for a further six months.
“Just to make absolutely clear — the measures would remain suspended, but if we need them at any point in the future, they can be unsuspended,” Gill said.
