VILNIUS, Dec 3 (Reuters) – Lithuania’s Vilnius airport suspended flights for a second time on Wednesday due to suspected balloons in its airspace, the operator said in a statement, the latest in a string of such incidents in recent months. Lithuania says balloons are sent by smugglers transporting cigarettes from Belarus, but also blames Belarusian […]
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Lithuania airport shuts for a second time on Wednesday over balloons
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VILNIUS, Dec 3 (Reuters) – Lithuania’s Vilnius airport suspended flights for a second time on Wednesday due to suspected balloons in its airspace, the operator said in a statement, the latest in a string of such incidents in recent months.
Lithuania says balloons are sent by smugglers transporting cigarettes from Belarus, but also blames Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, for not stopping what it calls a form of “hybrid attack”.
Lukashenko has accused the West of fighting a hybrid war against Belarus and Russia.
The Vilnius airport, located some 30 kilometres (19 miles) from Belarus, has been closed more than 10 times since early October as a result of similar incidents.
(Reporting by Andrius Sytas; writing by Simon Johnson; editing by Gareth Jones, Leslie Adler and Terje Solsvik)