Transfer to shut Vilnius, Kaunas airports and border comes after helium balloons drifted into the nation’s territory.
Printed On 24 Oct 2025
NATO member Lithuania has closed its two greatest airports and shut crossings on its border with Belarus after helium climate balloons drifted into its territory, the third such incident within the Baltic nation this month.
European aviation has repeatedly been thrown into chaos in current weeks by drone sightings and different air incursions, together with at airports in Copenhagen, Munich and the Baltic area.
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The Vilnius and Kaunas airports have been closed on Friday for security causes till 2am (23:00 GMT), whereas the Belarus border crossings will stay shut till noon on Sunday, authorities stated.
Lithuania has stated balloons are despatched by smugglers transporting contraband cigarettes, nevertheless it additionally blames Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko, a detailed ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, for not stopping the follow.
“The Nationwide Safety Fee will meet subsequent week to evaluate … what will be completed short-term that will be painful to the smugglers and to Lukashenko’s regime, which permits them to thrive,” Lithuania’s Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene stated in an announcement.
Lithuania’s Nationwide Disaster Administration Centre stated “tens of balloons” had been detected by radar on Friday.
Vilnius airport additionally closed on Tuesday of this week and on October 5, when smuggler balloons entered the capital metropolis’s airspace, authorities stated.
The incident comes after two Russian army plane briefly entered Lithuania’s airspace in what gave the impression to be a brand new provocation from Moscow.
Lithuania’s armed forces stated in an announcement that the 2 plane might have been conducting refuelling workout routines within the neighbouring Russian exclave of Kaliningrad once they flew 700 metres (0.43 miles) into the nation at 6pm native time (15:00 GMT) on Thursday.
“It is a blatant breach of worldwide legislation and territorial integrity of Lithuania,” Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda stated on X in response to that incursion, including that his nation would summon Russian embassy representatives to protest towards reckless and harmful behaviour.
Russia’s Ministry of Defence, nevertheless, denied the incursion had taken place.
It stated the flights have been carried out “in strict compliance” with guidelines and “didn’t deviate from their route and didn’t violate the borders of different states”.
Russian plane and drones have reportedly additionally violated airspace in Estonia and Poland in current weeks.
The occasions have heightened anxiousness that Russia’s Putin may be testing NATO’s defensive reflexes.
