Belarus does not cooperate with Lithuania on preventing the launch of weather balloons, Lithuanian Interior Minister Vladislav Kondratovič said.
“We have no contact whatsoever with the Belarusian side, and we receive no information from them, although we have repeatedly sent signals that balloons are being launched from certain points — take measures,” he said on January 29.
Kondratovič noted that so far all those detained in cases involving smuggling using weather balloons have been Lithuanian citizens.
According to the head of Lithuania’s Ministry of the Interior, the country is preparing to tighten legislation to address the problem of smuggling. New amendments are currently being drafted.
As a reminder, on the night from Tuesday to Wednesday, the most massive incursion of weather balloons into Lithuania since the beginning of this year was recorded — 42 balloons entered from Belarus. As a result, operations at Vilnius Airport were suspended. By morning, eight weather balloons had been found.
Lithuanian authorities did not rule out the possibility of restricting border crossings in the event of repeated weather balloon incidents. Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda said that the latest balloon incursion was harshly assessed by Lithuania’s American partners.