The European Union is finally moving closer to sanctioning Belarus for the release of weather balloons over Lithuania in recent months.

These airspace violations have caused the EU member state to shut its largest airports several times, and in November it moved to temporarily seal its border with its southeastern neighbor.

According to Lithuanian officials who spoke to RFE/RL on condition of anonymity, a total of 315 unauthorized balloons have entered the country from Belarus since June, peaking in October with 71 airspace incursions.

Able to easily reach high altitudes and thereby making it harder for them to be spotted by radar, most of the balloons are used for smuggling knockoff Belarusian-made cigarettes. The balloons can also "double" as sabotage tools by forcing the closure of airports for safety reasons.

Between October and December, the two biggest Lithuanian airports -- in the capital, Vilnius and in the central city of Kaunas -- had to temporarily shut down 15 times, affecting over 320 flights and more than 45,000 passengers.

An incident involving one balloon resulted in Vilnius airport being shut down for nearly 12 hours in early December.

Lithuania brought the issue to the attention of Brussels in late October, and the European Union's foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, issued a statement condemning Belarus's "persistent and provocative actions against the EU and its member states."

But no Brussels sanctions were issued immediately, notably as Vilnius didn't press the EU to go down that route at first.

Instead, Lithuania attempted another move: shutting the 700-kilometer border with its neighbor.

On October 29, all crossings to Belarus were essentially closed for regular traffic, with exemptions only for transit to the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad as well as for diplomats, European Union and NATO citizens, and European haulers returning from Belarus to the EU.