The Ministry of Foreign Affairs lodges a strong protest to Belarus over violations of Lithuania's airspace and the increasing flow of irregular migrants

On 10 April, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a strong protest to Belarus over the launch of smuggler balloons from Belarusian territory on 9 April, which violated Lithuanian airspace and posed a threat to civil aviation. Due to the incident, the airspace over Vilnius Airport was restricted for more than seven hours.

The Ministry also drew attention to the increasing flows of organized illegal migration from Belarus. So far this year, Lithuanian officials have already halted 347 attempts to cross the Lithuanian state border illegally.

Lithuania demanded that Belarus immediately take measures to stop the systematic violations of its airspace and land border. Lithuania also warned that, should these illegal actions continue, it reserves the right to reinstate restrictions on traffic through border crossing points and to apply additional measures to protect its airspace, civil aviation, and national security.