VILNIUS, Oct 30 (Reuters) – Lithuania’s Vilnius airport temporarily closed on Thursday due to weather balloons flying in its vicinity, the airport said in a post on Facebook, the sixth such incident this month.
Lithuania has said the balloons are sent by smugglers transporting contraband cigarettes, but it also blames Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, for not stopping the practice.
“According to preliminary information, the decision to restrict the airspace was made due to a balloon (or balloons) flying in the direction of Vilnius Airport,” the airport said on Thursday.
Traffic at the capital airport was suspended until 2110 GMT, it added.
The Baltic nation has already closed its border crossings between Lithuania and Belarus for most travellers until the end of November in response to the airspace disruptions, and has said it plans to shoot down balloons.
Lukashenko that the Lithuanian border closure was a “crazy scam” and he accused the West of fighting a hybrid war against Belarus and Russia that was ushering in a new era of barbed-wire division.
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. , opens new tab
Suggested Topics:
Read Next
ago Asia Pacific category
ago China category
ago China category
ago United Kingdom category
ago World category
ago Middle East category
Amazon.com forecast quarterly revenue largely above Wall Street estimates on Thursday on strong demand for its cloud services as businesses continue to spend relentlessly on artificial intelligence software development.
Site Index
About Reuters
Stay Informed
Information you can trust
Reuters, the news and media division of Thomson Reuters, is the world’s largest multimedia news provider, reaching billions of people worldwide every day. Reuters provides business, financial, national and international news to professionals via desktop terminals, the world’s media organizations, industry events and directly to consumers.
