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Lithuania declares a state of emergency in response to smugglers balloons from Belarus

The government of Lithuania announced that on Tuesday, a?state of emergency was declared due to the threat to public safety posed by smuggled s?balloons from Belarus.

Lithuania accuses Belarus of allowing smugglers use weather balloons for contraband cigarettes to be transported across the border. This has repeatedly forced Vilnius Airport to stop operations and disrupt air traffic.

Vladislav Kondratovic, Interior Minister at a live-streamed government meeting, said: "The state of Emergency is declared not only because of civil aviation disruptions, but also due to national security interests."

Kondratovic said that the declaration gives increased operational freedom to military forces, allowing them to work in coordination with the police or act independently. He did not, however, provide any further details.

It was not immediately clear how long the emergency measures would last.

Belarus, which allowed the use of its territory for Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, denied responsibility for balloons. It also accused Lithuania of provocation, including sending a drone that dropped "extremist materials".

Lithuania, which is a member of NATO and the European Union but was once a part of the Soviet Union, rejected these accusations as false.

Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, said that the situation on the border had "worsened" and called Belarus' balloon incursions "hybrid attacks" which were "completely inacceptable."

Lithuania in

The Belarus border region was placed under a state-of-emergency over what it called illegal migration to the Baltic nation. Non-residents were not allowed access.

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Vilnius declared a state of emergency following Russia's invasion in Ukraine, out of fear that Lithuania would also be targeted. It imposed restrictions on freedom of speech to curb what they said was possible Russian propaganda. (Reporting and writing by Andrius Sytas; editing by Terje Solsvik).

(source: Reuters)