Lithuania shuts airports and Belarus border after weather balloon incursion
AI Summary
Lithuania closed its two biggest airports and shut its border with Belarus after helium weather balloons drifted into its territory on Friday, the third such occurrence this month. The country has reported a significant increase in air incursions, including at airports in Copenhagen, Munich, and the Baltic region. Lithuania blames smugglers using balloons to send Belarusian cigarettes into the EU, where tobacco products are more expensive. The country's prime minister, Inga Ruginiene, stated that the national security commission will meet to assess measures to address the issue. This is not the first time Lithuania has experienced air incursions, with over 500 balloons entering its airspace this year and a total of 966 last year. Neighboring Poland has also reported more than 100 similar incidents this year.
Key Topics & Entities
Keywords
Sentiment Analysis
Source Transparency
This article was automatically classified using rule-based analysis. The political bias score ranges from -1 (far left) to +1 (far right).
Topic Connections
Explore how the topics in this article connect to other news stories