MINSK, 29 October (BelTA) – Remigijus Žemaitaitis, a member of the Lithuanian Seimas and leader of the Dawn of Nemunas political party, has stated that the situation on the border is the result of Vilnius’ failed policy, Lithuanian media reported.
“This is a consequence of Lithuania’s very poor foreign policy,” the Lithuanian politician said, commenting on the incidents involving balloons and the subsequent closure of the border with Belarus. “We have no foreign policy and virtually no low-level diplomatic relations with Belarus that would allow us to talk and communicate,” Remigijus Žemaitaitis said.
He noted that closing the border checkpoints with Belarus will not resolve the issue in any way. According to him, funds should be allocated for public safety instead.
On 26 October, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda proposed a long-term closure of the border with Belarus and restrictions on transit to Kaliningrad. The stated reason for this was incidents involving weather balloons carrying tobacco products entering Lithuanian territory. A day later, on 27 October, a meeting of the National Security Commission was held in Lithuania, after which it was announced that the country would close its border with Belarus indefinitely. The final decision on the indefinite closure of the border with Belarus is planned to be made on 29 October during a meeting of the Lithuanian government. Until then, the border with Belarus remains closed, but some exceptions apply. The restrictions do not apply to diplomats and diplomatic bags. Furthermore, citizens of Lithuania and European Union countries are permitted to enter.
Belarusian Minister of Foreign Affairs Maxim Ryzhenkov has stated that Lithuania’s closure of the border with Belarus is a provocation. “This is some kind of provocation. If someone needs a pretext to justify certain actions with their rhetoric (against Belarus, against Russia, and ultimately against their own citizens), that is exactly what they go looking for. As for those balloons smuggling some cigarettes that were flying around, that has been going on for ages,” he noted. The foreign minister also pointed out that the Lithuanians “could not even identify what those balloons were or what they carried.”
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