Lithuania’s presidential chief adviser on national security said Tuesday the situation involving contraband balloons launched from Belarus has improved significantly, but it is still too early to say the crisis is over.
“At this point, we cannot say with 100% certainty that this is a sustainable process and that no more balloons will reach the airport. Let’s wait a bit longer, but the situation has improved significantly,” Deividas Matulionis told the radio Žinių Radijas.
According to Matulionis, contraband balloons from Belarus have not caused problems for Lithuanian authorities or law enforcement for 45 days.
He said the improvement may be due to several factors, including more active work by law enforcement agencies, weather conditions and talks between US envoy John Coale and Belarusian authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko.
After the meeting in December, Coale said Lukashenko had promised to halt the influx of contraband balloons into Lithuania.
In the second half of last year, the balloons disrupted operations at Vilnius Airport dozens of times and once at Kaunas Airport.
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