Lithuania expects Belarus to honour its pledge to stop smuggler balloons from flying into Lithuanian airspace, Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys stated, BNS reports. Earlier, US President Donald Trump’s special envoy, John Coale, announced that Belarusian leader Alyaksandr Lukashenka had promised to halt the balloon incursions. Budrys warned that failure to honour the pledge would affect…
Lithuania should “slightly de-escalate” tensions with Belarus, Deividas Matulionis, national security adviser to Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda, stated, LRT reported. Earlier, Belarus released 123 political prisoners in exchange for the US lifting sanctions on Belarusian potash fertilisers. Also, Belarus pledged to stop the incursion of smuggler balloons into Lithuanian airspace. Lithuania has halted transit shipments…
UAE’s state-owned air carrier, flydubai, has opened regular flights from the Latvian and Lithuanian capitals, Riga and Vilnius, to Dubai, LETA and ELTA reported. The company will have three flights per week on both routes. Jeyhun Efendi, senior vice-president for commercial operations at flydubai, said that the airline planned to open flights to the Estonian…
The Lithuanian tour operator, Join UP! Baltic, will move its charter flights to Egypt from Vilnius to Kaunas as of 17 December 2025 due to disruptions caused by smuggler balloons from Belarus, BNS reports. Lithuania’s airport operator, Lietuvos Oro Uostai (LTOU), said that the tour operator’s flights to Hurghada and Sharm el-Sheikh would operate from…
Lithuania will seek support from the European Union and the United States to pressure the Belarusian regime into stopping smuggler balloons from flying into Lithuanian airspace, Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene announced, LRT reports. She said that the Lithuanian government was prepared to impose national sanctions or reclose the border with Belarus if diplomatic efforts with…
Latvia’s SmartLynx Airlines has filed for insolvency, LETA reports. CEO Edvinas Demenius explained that SmartLynx had intended to implement a restructuring plan by 15 December 2025. However, “false and misleading information from various stakeholders” had led to the loss of aircraft and customer contracts, he said. SmartLynx has liabilities totalling around EUR 238mn, of which EUR…
The Lithuanian government has declared a nationwide emergency situation in response to repeated incursions of smuggler balloons from neighbouring Belarus into Lithuanian airspace, BNS reports. At the same time, the government proposed that the parliament, the Seimas, grant the Lithuanian Armed Forces (LGP) extended powers to assist law enforcement for three months. The balloon incursions…
The number of passengers using public transport in Latvia continued to rise in the first three quarters of 2025, according to data from the Central Statistical Bureau (CSP), LSM reports. Land transport carried a total of 143.4 million passengers in nine months, which was 1.1% more than a year earlier. The number of passengers using…
Lithuania’s Interior Ministry has proposed declaring a nationwide state-level emergency in response to an increased incursion of smuggler balloons from neighbouring Belarus into Lithuanian airspace, BNS reports. The government is expected to decide on the proposal next week. According to the Interior Ministry, altogether 599 smuggler balloons and 197 drones have entered Lithuanian airspace so…