By Andrius Sytas VILNIUS (Reuters) -Lithuania will reopen its border crossings with Belarus, ending a closure imposed in response to airspace disruptions by smugglers’ balloons, the Baltic republic’s government said on Wednesday. It was not immediately clear how soon the border crossings would reopen. Lithuania last month said the two crossings on the border would […]
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Lithuania says it will reopen Belarus border after balloon incidents
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By Andrius Sytas
VILNIUS (Reuters) -Lithuania will reopen its border crossings with Belarus, ending a closure imposed in response to airspace disruptions by smugglers’ balloons, the Baltic republic’s government said on Wednesday.
It was not immediately clear how soon the border crossings would reopen.
Lithuania last month said the two crossings on the border would remain closed until the end of November in response to incursions by weather balloons flying from Belarus that have disrupted air traffic and caused closures at Vilnius airport.
Lithuania has said the balloons are flown by smugglers transporting contraband cigarettes and blames Belarus’ President Alexander Lukashenko for not stopping the practice, calling it a form of “hybrid attack”.
Lukashenko has previously called the border closure 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.
(Reporting by Andrius Sytas, editing by Stine Jacobsen and Terje Solsvik)