Virnius in Lithuania
AP
–
There were up to 25 small hot balloons, some of which were carrying smuggled cigarettes, and entered Lithuania airspace late Saturday, forced to close Vilnius airport, delaying flights for hours, authorities said.
According to the National Crisis Management Centre in Lithuania, balloons disrupted 30 flights and affected around 6,000 passengers. Flights resumed on Sunday at 4:50am (9:50pm Saturday).
The balloons turned out to be cigarette ferries, but Europe is on alert after NATO’s invasion into airspace reached an unprecedented scale last month. Some European officials described the incident as a test of Moscow’s NATO response, raising questions about how the alliance was being prepared against Russia.
Lithuania and other Baltics are particularly relevant. On July 10, a drone with a Russian-made gerbera identified flew from Belarus to Lithuania and crashed in Vilnius county.
Another crashed at a military training ground on July 28th and was found a week later. The military later said it was carrying explosive equipment. After these incidents, Congress voted to allow the troops to shoot down unmanned drones violating the airspace.
Two balloons flew over Vilnius airport, according to spokesman Darius Pugh. We reached Vilnius county with over 20 people. Balloons were recorded flying between 8:45pm on Saturday and 4:30am on Sunday.
Border police have recovered 11 balloons and about 18,000 packs of smuggling cigarettes at various locations, the pig told The Associated Press.
Lithuania’s capital, Vilnius is located about 40 km (25 miles) west of the border with Russian ally Belarus. Belarusian smugglers are increasingly using balloons that are much cheaper than drones to smuggle cigarettes into the European Union, pigs said.
A similar incident was reported in August, with fewer balloons. Last year, 966 hot balloons from Belarus were intercepted by Lithuanian authorities. 544 were recorded this year.
“Smuggling balloons and drones is a criminal act, but not as a provocation or sabotage,” pigs said.
