Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda rejected suggestions that relations with Belarus were improving, LRT reported. He said that there had been no positive changes on Belarusian balloon incursions, illegal migration, or participation in Russia’s war against Ukraine. There were thus no grounds to ease sanctions on Belarus, Nauseda stated. Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys said that…
Estonian authorities have released a Bahamian-flagged container ship stopped earlier on suspicion of drug smuggling, ERR reports. The Estonian Tax and Customs Board (EMTA) found no narcotics on board the vessel, Baltic Spirit, which was en route from Puerto Bolívar in Ecuador to Saint Petersburg in Russia. Estonian authorities boarded and detained the ship based…
Estonian authorities have boarded and detained a Bahamian-flagged container ship suspected of smuggling, the Estonian Tax and Customs Board (EMTA) announced, ERR reports. Officials stopped the vessel, Baltic Spirit, off the island of Naissaar in Estonia’s internal waters. The ship, with an all-Russian crew, was en route from Ecuador to Saint Petersburg in Russia. The vessel…
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…
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…
Lithuania’s Foreign Ministry has lodged a formal protest with Belarus over continued “hybrid attacks” and seizure of property of EU citizens and companies, BNS reports. The ministry demanded that Belarus exercise effective control of its airspace and return “unlawfully detained” property, referring to incursions of smuggler balloons into Lithuania and the detention of Lithuanian trucks in…
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…