Nausėda: Fertilizer Transit Impossible as Long as Balloons Fly from Belarus
The President of Lithuania stated that there can be no talk about resuming the transit of Belarusian fertilizers through Lithuania as long as smuggled weather balloons are flying from Belarus, reports LRT.
"These talks (about fertilizer transit) are absolutely baseless and will not have any basis at all, as long as at least one balloon from the Belarusian side flies into Lithuania," the head of the Lithuanian state told reporters on Thursday.
"We will completely block this issue, and no one in the world will change our opinion," he added.
According to Nausėda, after the incident with smuggled weather balloons on Tuesday, when Vilnius Airport was forced to suspend operations three times, the American side expressed a tough stance to Minsk: similar actions could jeopardize the process of improving bilateral relations.
"Unfortunately, we are dealing with a complex state, a difficult neighborhood and, as far as I know, some time ago Belarusians gave a promise to our American allies — since they maintain closer ties — that they would resolve the issue with the balloons. And, as far as I know, US representatives reacted very promptly to this new incident and stated in rather harsh rhetoric that this is absolutely unacceptable, and any desire to build more constructive relations with Belarus will be torpedoed by the fault of the Belarusians themselves if this continues," emphasized the President of Lithuania.
On Tuesday evening, the largest number of smuggled weather balloons from Belarus this year was recorded. Because of this, Vilnius Airport had to suspend operations three times, affecting 1.7 thousand passengers. Before that, the airport closed on December 6, 2025