Belarus is proposing to postpone a technical meeting with Lithuania until 18 November amid reports that Poland will open two border crossings on 17 November. Earlier, media reported that the talks had been scheduled in Druskininkai for 14 November.
Ignas Dobrovolskas, adviser to Lithuanian Prime Minister Inga Ruginienė, said: “We can thank our partners in Poland for keeping the border checkpoints with Belarus closed much longer than planned, and it would be naïve not to link the regime’s proposal to postpone, to a technical expert level, the resolution of issues concerning our carriers until next Tuesday.”
According to him, Minsk’s behaviour shows that “the Belarusian regime is merely pretending to want to solve carriers’ problems” and is escalating tensions, Delfi reports.
“Instead of stopping the threat that contraband balloons pose to civil aviation in the West, Belarus is deepening the escalation and, using methods of pirates or terrorists, has taken hostage the property of our and European carriers,” Dobrovolskas said.
Yesterday, Lithuanian Interior Minister Vladislav Kondratovič said that Lithuanian and Belarusian representatives and specialists would meet at the technical level to discuss issues related to the launch of meteorological balloons.