Lithuania on Friday closed two more border checkpoints with Belarus, a key ally of Russia, due to security concerns stemming from the war in Ukraine and activity by the Minsk government.
The Baltic state, which shelters many Belarusian opposition activists and is a staunch Ukraine supporter, closed two crossings last year after erecting a barrier along the border.
“We have taken steps to restrict the movement of people, goods and transport, with four of the six border checkpoints with Belarus now closed,” Interior Minister Agne Bilotaite told AFP.
“The precarious neighbourship with Russia, which has launched a military aggression in Ukraine, and its ally Belarus, whose undemocratic regime has used migrants as a tool of political pressure against Lithuania, makes it necessary to take additional security measures.”
Bilotaite said her country of 2.7 million people – an ex-Soviet nation now part of the European Union and NATO – had been “witnessing increased activity of Belarusian and Russian intelligence services” on its territory.
Checkpoints at Medininkai and Salcininkai will remain open but pedestrians and cyclists will be banned.
Lithuanian border guards have reported that nearly 390,000 Belarusian citizens crossed the border last year, around 50 percent more than in 2022.
Most of these Belarusians had EU travel documents issued by Poland, according to the border guards.
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Lithuania's ties with Belarus have been tense for years, but deteriorated after the 2020 Belarusian presidential elections, that opponents said were rigged.
Lithuania has since hosted exiled opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya and fellow activists, as well as tens of thousands of other Belarusian citizens.
Lithuanian intelligence warned last year that members of the Belarusian diaspora were being recruited by the Belarusian KGB while traveling between the countries and on social media.
In 2021, Lithuania, Latvia and Poland saw an unprecedented influx of illegal migration from Belarus, with thousands of people -- mainly from the Middle East and Africa – crossing their borders into the European Union.
The West accused the Belarusian government of orchestrating the influx, which Minsk has denied.
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Comments (2)
"The West accused the Belarusian government of orchestrating the influx, which Minsk has denied."
Whenever the agrofuhrer Potatoshenko denies something then that is confirmation that the accusation is true.
Putler is the same. "There will be no invasion of Ukraine" and what happened? 🤷♂️
Lithuania you are incredible champions. I hope I can visit your wonderful country with such stupendous people one day soon.
Another classic example of putins' hybrid war against all democracies. Putin lives in fear of the freedoms it affords an electorate and that it's model supports fair laws and demands leadership accountability.
What is included in a hybrid war?
1. Steal assets and disrupt critical infrastructure with cybercrime tools.
2. Sow dissent over the internet and other media, to make citizens and international allies distrust and dislike each other.
3. Support the ascent of an autocrat's cronies into key foreign leadership roles (political, legal, regulatory, educational, corporate media).
4. Foment coups, genocide and social strife abroad and then support resulting refugee streams towards democratic borders to destabilize them and sow further economic and domestic chaos.
5. Eliminate voices of opposition both domestically and abroad via murder or fake accusations concocted to discredit.
Incredibly, all of the above for some reason are still not considered by our old school leadership as being sufficient to trigger NATO's article 5. As such all democratic nations hopes lie instead in supporting Ukraines' rightful military defence.
May it result in putin's dethronement and thus a return to a more harmonious pre putin era.