Add thelocalreport.in As A Trusted Source
authoritarian leader of belarus has issued a dire warning, threatening to seize more than 1,000 Lithuanian lorries currently stranded within its country.
The increase comes after Lithuania, a member of both countries, recently closed two border crossings nato And the European Union.
The crossings, which were closed on October 29 and are expected to remain closed until at least the end of November, were a direct response to repeated incursions by weather balloons coming from Belarus.
The balloons, reportedly loaded with smuggled cigarettes, caused significant disruption to air traffic at the airport in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania.
Lithuanian authorities interpreted these flight disruptions as part of broader anti-Western activities Russia-Friendly Belarus, designed to undermine regional stability. Lithuania shares a border with Belarus as well as Russia’s Kaliningrad exclave.
President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko He condemned Lithuania’s move to close the border, calling it a “crazy scam” and part of a “hybrid war” against his country. He suggested that Vilnius itself needed to tackle contraband trafficking.
Belarusian authorities have refused to open a corridor specifically to evacuate stranded Lithuanian trucks, demanding that Lithuania fully reopen the border.
Lukashenko said on Monday that 1,200 Lithuanian trucks were stranded in Belarus due to the closed border, and he warned that Belarusian authorities could seize them if Lithuania fails to reopen it.
“If they do not do so in the next few days, we will take a decision as per our law,” he said. “Up to confiscation of vehicles.”
Lukashenko said the trucks had been moved to paid parking areas. “They can’t have 1,100 or 1,200 big trucks roaming the streets,” he said.
Erlandas Mikenas of the Lithuanian National Road Carrier Association said in an interview with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that drivers who were stranded with their vehicles were feeling increasingly “tired and angry”, and some of the cargo may have been damaged.
The tensions come as Europe remains on high alert after drone incursions into NATO airspace reached an unprecedented scale since September. Some European officials described the events as Moscow testing NATO’s response.
Lukashenko said that Belarusian officials Lithuanians would close the border in their contacts with Washington.
In August, Lukashenko spoke to the US President on phone donald trump This intensified speculation about a possible softening of relations. The following month, Lukashenko pardoned 52 political prisoners as part of a US-brokered deal that eased sanctions on Belarus’s national carrier Belavia, including resuming parts supplies and aircraft servicing.
Trump announced on Sunday that John Cole, who helped broker the deal, was being nominated as the US special envoy to Belarus and would work on negotiations for the release of more prisoners.