Lithuania has alleged that balloons carrying contraband cigarettes have crossed over from its neighbor<\/p>\n
Lithuanian Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene has threatened to close the border with neighboring Belarus, Lithuanian National Radio (LRT) reported on Wednesday.
\nShe said the measure would be in response to an alleged flow of balloons carrying contraband cigarettes across the border, according to the public broadcaster.
\n\u201cIf such balloons cross our border en masse again, we will react immediately and close the border with Belarus,\u201d Ruginiene told journalists on Wednesday, according to LRT.
\nShe also reportedly expressed skepticism that Vilnius could \u201csit down with this neighbor and reach an agreement on anything.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\u201cThere\u2019s currently no information that this is a coordinated operation by [Belarusian President Alexander] Lukashenko. This is about smuggling contraband cigarettes,\u201d she added.
\nAccording to the Baltic News Service, dozens of contraband balloons crossed into Lithuania overnight on Tuesday, disturbing flights to and from Vilnius airport.
\nBelarusian border authorities reported that Lithuania unilaterally stopped border crossings for around six hours early on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
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The head of the Lithuanian National Road Carriers\u2019 Association (LINAVA), Narunas Raulinaitis, questioned the \u201cproportionality\u201d of the halt.
\n\u201cAn air incident should not become a pretext for paralyzing road transport,\u201d as transport sector workers already face intolerable conditions and waits at the border, LRT cited the transport association boss as saying.
\nCurrently, Lithuania only has two open border crossings with Belarus, having shut two down last March and two others in August of 2023.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Lithuania has alleged that balloons carrying contraband cigarettes have crossed over from its neighbor Lithuanian Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene has threatened to close the border with neighboring Belarus, Lithuanian National…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20956,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t