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Lithuania has declared a state of emergency after hundreds of smuggler balloons from neighbouring Belarus forced the repeated closure of its airports in recent weeks and threatened national security.
The move by the government on Tuesday follows multiple appeals to the EU to take more action against what Vilnius has said is the latest stage in Russia and Belarus’s hybrid war against Nato member states.
The giant balloons are used by smugglers to bring contraband such as cigarettes into Lithuania. Vilnius airport has been closed for 60 hours in recent weeks, affecting more than 350 flights and 50,000 passengers. The airport in the city of Kaunas has also been forced to close several times.
“In combating the Belarusian hybrid attack, we must take the strictest measures and defend the areas most affected by this attack . . . The public will not experience any inconvenience due to the state of emergency,” said Prime Minister Inga Ruginienė.
Belarus, a close political and military ally of Russia, has denied responsibility.
The state of emergency would enable the military to become more involved in tackling the threat of the balloons and allow better co-ordination between agencies, the government said on Tuesday.
The balloons are the latest hybrid attacks — campaign of sabotage aimed at disrupting national security or key infrastructure systems — against the Baltic state and other neighbouring frontline Nato countries.
Since 2021, Lithuania, Latvia and Poland have all faced significant numbers of migrants pushed across the border from Belarus, which all three have called a hybrid attack. Lithuania and Poland have blamed a number of arson attacks on Russia, while there have also been several incidents of lower-level violence or vandalism such as attacks on ministerial cars in Estonia and Poland.
Lithuania has several times called on the EU to sanction Belarusian officials and help the Baltic country combat the smuggler balloons.
The government said that owing to shifting wind patterns the state of emergency was being introduced in all of Lithuania, not just the border region. It added that the police, border guards, customs officials and military police were making nightly raids to intercept the balloons as well as checking cars and people in the area.
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