{"id":166841,"date":"2025-12-04T15:40:23","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T12:40:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/166841\/"},"modified":"2026-03-09T20:10:49","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T20:10:49","slug":"lithuanian-pm-says-washington-backs-vilniuss-efforts-to-return-trucks-from-belarus","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/166841\/","title":{"rendered":"Lithuanian PM says Washington backs Vilnius\u2019s efforts to return trucks from Belarus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>December 4,&nbsp;<em>Pozirk.<\/em><\/strong>&nbsp;The United States backs Lithuania\u2019s efforts to return its trucks stranded in Belarus, <em>ELTA<\/em> reported, noting that Lithuanian Prime Minister Inga Ruginien\u0117 has received assurances to that effect from US officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Delfi<\/em> reported that the prime minister appealed to Washington to classify Minsk\u2019s hybrid attacks against Lithuania as acts of terror.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ruginien\u0117 said that US officials share Vilnius\u2019 concern over incursions by cigarette-smuggling balloons and trucks \u201cheld hostage\u201d by Minsk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Because helium weather balloons frequently disrupt operations at Vilnius International Airport, airlines have been offered preferential treatment at Kaunas Airport to encourage them to relocate some of the flights there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Lithuanian foreign ministry summoned a Belarusian diplomat yesterday to hand another note of protest over airspace incursions from Belarus and what is called a deliberate seizure of Lithuanian trucks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Later in the evening, the Vilnius Airport, located close to the Belarusian border, had to suspend operations three times after the detection of what may have been weather balloons in the area. Restrictions affected 27 flights and more than 3,000 passengers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yesterday\u2019s air traffic restrictions marked the sixth such incident since Lithuania reopened the Medininkai\u2013Kamienny \u0141oh and \u0160al\u010dininkai\u2013Bieniakoni border crossings on November 20. The checkpoints were closed from October 29, following the launches of cigarette-smuggling balloons from Belarus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"insert-block\">\n\n    <div class=\"insert-block__img\">\n        <img decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/vilnius-pixabay-744-12.12.2023-300x200.jpg\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/vilnius-pixabay-744-12.12.2023-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/vilnius-pixabay-744-12.12.2023.jpg 744w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>                        <label class=\"insert-block__tag--mobile\"> Politics<\/label>\n\n                            <label class=\"insert-block__tag--mobile\"> Security<\/label>\n\n                <\/div>\n    <div class=\"insert-block__text\">\n                    <label class=\"insert-block__tag\">Politics, Security<\/label>\n                <h3 class=\"insert-block__title\">Lithuania lodges another complaint with Belarus over ongoing hybrid attacks<\/h3>\n        <div class=\"insert-block__descr\">December 4, Pozirk. The Lithuanian foreign ministry summoned a Belarusian diplomat yesterday to hand another note of protest over the ongoing airspace incursions from Belarus and what is called a deliberate seizure of Lithuanian trucks. Smugglers\u2019 weather balloons launched from &#8230;<\/div>\n        <a class=\"insert-block__btn-block\" href=\"\/en\/news\/166762\">\n            <button class=\"btn\">\n                <div class='btn__text'>Read<\/div>\n            <\/button>\n        <\/a>\n    <\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>December 4,&nbsp;Pozirk.&nbsp;The United States backs Lithuania\u2019s efforts to return its trucks stranded in Belarus, ELTA reported, noting that Lithuanian Prime Minister Inga Ruginien\u0117 has received assurances to that effect from US officials. Delfi reported that the prime minister appealed to Washington to classify Minsk\u2019s hybrid attacks against Lithuania as acts of terror. Ruginien\u0117 said that [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":163952,"template":"","rubric":[17,14,30],"class_list":["post-166841","articles","type-articles","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","rubric-economy","rubric-politics","rubric-security"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Lithuanian PM says Washington backs Vilnius\u2019s efforts to return trucks from Belarus | Pozirk<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"December 4,&nbsp;Pozirk.&nbsp;The United States backs Lithuania\u2019s efforts to return its trucks stranded in Belarus, ELTA reported, noting that Lithuanian\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/166841\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta 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