VILNIUS: Tensions between Lithuania and Belarus have escalated after meteorological balloons from Belarus forced Lithuania to repeatedly shut down its main airport in the past weeks, leaving thousands of people stranded.
While the balloons are used to smuggle cigarettes into Lithuania, officials in Vilnius see their numbers and trajectories as deliberate acts of disruption orchestrated by Belarus, a close Russian ally, as Europe remains on high alert after drone intrusions into NATO’s airspace reached an unprecedented scale in September and the Russian invasion of Ukraine nears its fourth year.
‘A cynical hybrid attack’
In the most recent incident, operations at Vilnius airport were suspended for 11 hours on Saturday night. Lithuanian authorities said at least 60 balloons were flown from the woods in Belarus, 40 of them reaching areas critical for aviation safety and making it one of the most serious incidents to date. Lithuanian aviation authorities said the balloons appeared to be sent at regular time intervals and directed at the runways.
“This is a cynical hybrid attack against our economy, aviation security, and the entire nation,” Taurimas Valys, Lithuania’s deputy minister of foreign affairs, said about the incident.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko had previously said that Belarus would apologize if its involvement was established.
On Monday, Minsk pointed a finger at Lithuania for allegedly sending a drone into the country’s airspace, claiming it was to be used for espionage and the delivery of “extremist materials.”
The Belarusian Foreign Ministry on Monday summoned Lithuania’s chargé d’affaires, Erikas Vilkanecas, and demanded an explanation and a probe into the incident.
“The Republic of Belarus reserves the right to take all necessary measures to protect its sovereignty and security, based on the current situation,” the ministry said in a statement Monday.
Lithuanian Prime Minister Inga Ruginienė said Tuesday she had received no information suggesting that Lithuania was involved in the incident, according to the BNS news agency.
High tensions
In October, Lithuania closed its borders with Belarus after balloons repeatedly disrupted activity at the Vilnius airport.
In retaliation, Minsk prevented over 1,000 Lithuanian cargo trucks from exiting Belarus. Those trucks remain in Belarus, although the Lithuanian government gave in to pressure from the national logistics companies and reopened the border less than three weeks after it was shuttered.
Since then, Lithuanian authorities have noted that the number of balloons flying in has continued to rise.
“If necessary, we will close the border, but please understand that we must coordinate every action with our strategic partners,” Ruginienė said on Tuesday.
An attempt at a solution
Lithuanian authorities offered 1 million euros to projects that could help defend against the disruption.
IT Logika, one of the beneficiaries, plans to develop an Intelligent Airspace Security System (IOEAS) to detect and identify targets at any time of the day, as well as a high-power laser to safely shoot down multiple balloons during the same flight. Object trajectory prediction and recognition would be performed using artificial intelligence algorithms. Real-time information would be provided from drone base stations, radars and other geographically distributed sensors.
Other planned measures include new harsh punishments for any activities that might be linked to cigarette smuggling and changing flight schedules.
“We are considering the possibility of moving night flights to other airports like Kaunas,” Ignas Algirdas Dobrovolskas, an adviser to the prime minister, said. “We are now focusing on how to actually help people and businesses,” he added.
Belarus weather balloons force repeated closures of Lithuania’s main airport
https://arab.news/ryjdr
Belarus weather balloons force repeated closures of Lithuania’s main airport
- Lithuanian authorities said at least 60 balloons were flown from the woods in Belarus
- “This is a cynical hybrid attack against our economy, aviation security, and the entire nation,” Valys said
Russian drone strike kills 12-year-old boy in Ukraine as peace talks kept under wraps
- In Dnipropetrovsk region, a Russian drone attack Thursday night destroyed a house where the boy was killed and two women were injured
- The Ukrainian air force said Russia fired 137 drones of various types during the night
KYIV: Russian drones struck a house in central Ukraine, killing a 12-year-old boy, officials said, while long-range Ukrainian strikes reportedly targeted a Russian port and an oil refinery as US peace efforts continued out of public view.
US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner’s meeting in Florida on Thursday with Rustem Umerov, Ukraine’s lead negotiator, was “productive,” according to a White House official who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.
The American and Ukrainian officials were due to brief their respective leaders on Friday and reconvene for further talks later in the day , the official added.
The talks came after discussions between President Vladimir Putin and the US envoys at the Kremlin on Tuesday.
Previous diplomatic attempts to break the deadlock have come to nothing and the nearly four-year war has continued unabated. Officials largely have kept a lid on how the latest talks are going, though Trump’s initial 28-point plan was leaked.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his country’s delegation in Miami wanted to hear from the US side about the talks at the Kremlin.
Zelensky, as well as European leaders backing him, have repeatedly accused Putin of stalling in peace talks while the Russian army tries to press forward with its invasion.
Zelensky said in a video address late Thursday that officials wanted to know “what other pretexts Putin has come up with to drag out the war and to pressure Ukraine.”
Meanwhile, Kremlin foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov, who accompanied Putin on a visit to India on Friday, repeated the Russian leaders’ recent criticism of Europe’s stance on the peace talks. Kyiv’s European allies are concerned about possible Russian aggression beyond Ukraine and want a prospective peace deal to include strong security guarantees.
Kyiv’s allies in Europe are “constantly putting forward demands that are unacceptable to Moscow,” Ushakov told Russia’s state-owned Zvezda TV. “Putting it mildly, the Europeans don’t help Washington and Moscow reach a settlement on the Ukrainian issues.”
French President Emmanuel Macron said Friday that he made progress during a visit to Beijing on getting Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s support for peace efforts.
“We exchanged deeply and truthfully on all points, and I saw a willingness from the (Chinese) president to contribute to stability and peace,” Macron said.
The French president said he stressed that Ukraine needs guarantees that Russia won’t attack it again if a settlement is reached and that Europe must have a voice in negotiations.
“The unity between Americans and Europeans on the Ukrainian issue is essential. And I say it, repeat it, emphasize it. We need to work together,” Macron said.
In Ukraine’s central Dnipropetrovsk region, a Russian drone attack Thursday night destroyed a house where the boy was killed and two women were injured, according to the head of the regional military administration, Vladyslav Haivanenko.
The Ukrainian air force said Russia fired 137 drones of various types during the night.
Ukrainian drones attacked a port and an oil refinery inside Russia overnight as part of Kyiv’s campaign to disrupt Russian logistics, Ukraine’s general staff said.
The drones struck Temriuk sea port in Russia’s Krasnodar region and the Syzran oil refinery in the Samara region, starting blazes, a statement said. Syzran is about 800 kilometers (500 miles) east of the border with Ukraine.
The Russian Defense Ministry said only that its air defenses intercepted 85 Ukrainian drones over Russian regions and the illegally annexed Crimea overnight.
