Lithuanian authorities have reported the “most intense” launches of airborne balloons from Belarus so far this November, with weather balloons also detected over Latvia, LRT reported on November 24.
In the past 24 hours, Vilnius Airport had to suspend operations twice due to balloons carrying contraband. Lithuania’s National Crisis Management Center (NKVC) recorded over 40 such weather balloons.
“We probably had the busiest night of the entire month of November. The launches began around 5 p.m. from Belarus and continued until 2 a.m.,” NKVC chief Vilmantas Vitkauskas said on LRT Radijas on November 24.
Due to the scale and intensity of the launches, Vilnius Airport was first closed for five hours and then extended for an additional period.
Moreover, Latvian radar systems detected 30 of these balloons, though Vitkauskas noted it is still unclear how they reached Latvian airspace.
“This shows that the regime is expanding the geography of its activities. We are now facing not only a national issue but a regional one,” he added.
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On November 24, Lithuania is set to decide on a coordinated regional response. As of Monday morning, six balloons have been recovered, with searches for the remaining ones ongoing.
The last time weather balloons disrupted Vilnius Airport was November 20, affecting over 1,100 passengers and 10 flights.
Earlier in October, Vilnius Airport had to halt operations four times due to contraband balloons, impacting about 95 flights and nearly 14,000 passengers. On November 8, the airport was again closed after balloons were detected approaching its airspace.
In response, Lithuania temporarily closed its border with Belarus, emphasizing that it will reopen it only when contraband-laden balloons no longer enter the country’s airspace.
Earlier, a group of volunteer scuba divers off the coast of Wales unexpectedly recovered what defense analysts believe is a Russian sonar buoy designed to track submarines, the BBC reported on November 23.
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