The Belarusian Foreign Ministry called Lithuania's decision to close the border a provocation

Belarusian Foreign Minister Maxim Ryzhenkov called Lithuania's decision to close the border a provocation to justify anti-Belarusian approaches and the expansion of sanctions.

"These are some kind of provocations. If someone needs to find a reason to justify their actions against Belarus, against Russia, against their citizens with this rhetoric, then such reasons are being sought," the minister said. On October 27, the First Information Channel posted a video with his words on its Telegram channel.

He noted that Lithuania had not sent protest notes to Belarus in connection with the balloons with contraband cigarettes. In his opinion, the Lithuanian authorities need to find those who are smuggling cigarettes, and not close the borders.

He added that the Lithuanian government is trying to scare its own citizens and create panic because of the alleged threat from Belarus.

Show trial: Lithuania threatens Russia and Belarus with sanctions

The Balts are pushing their neighbors to escalate the conflict

Earlier in the day, Lithuanian Prime Minister Inga Ruginene said that Lithuania had decided to close its border with Belarus indefinitely in response to incidents involving balloons allegedly arriving from Belarusian territory. Thus, cargo transport will not be able to cross the border. At the same time, exceptions will be introduced for diplomatic mail and diplomats, as well as citizens of Lithuania and the European Union (EU) countries.

Earlier, on October 15, it was reported that Vilnius airport in Lithuania was closed due to the presence in its airspace of dozens of balloons intended for cigarette smuggling. It was clarified that at the time of the incident, eight incoming flights had been diverted to various airports in the country.

Subsequently, there were reports that Lithuania had closed traffic through two checkpoints — "Shalchininkai" and "Myadininkai" — on the border with Belarus. It was clarified that more than 1.5 thousand trucks were registered in the electronic queue for departure through these checkpoints. Later, the country's authorities announced the opening of road checkpoints.

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