https://arab.news/5rsxy
- 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
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.”