"NATO member Lithuania has closed its two biggest airports and shut crossings on its border with Belarus after helium weather balloons drifted into its territory, the third such incident in the Baltic nation this month. European aviation has repeatedly been thrown into chaos in recent weeks by drone sightings and other air incursions, including at airports in Copenhagen, Munich and the Baltic region."
"The Vilnius and Kaunas airports were closed on Friday for safety reasons until 2am (23:00 GMT), while the Belarus border crossings will remain shut until midday on Sunday, authorities said. Lithuania has said 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."
Lithuania closed its two largest airports, Vilnius and Kaunas, and shut border crossings with Belarus after helium weather balloons drifted into national airspace for the third time this month. Authorities cited safety concerns and detected tens of balloons by radar. European aviation has faced recent disruption from drone sightings and air incursions across several countries. Lithuania attributes the balloons to smugglers transporting contraband cigarettes and also blames Belarusian authorities and President Alexander Lukashenko for failing to stop the practice. The National Security Commission will meet to consider short-term measures, and two Russian military aircraft briefly entered Lithuanian airspace.
Read at www.aljazeera.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]