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Belarus border closure and Lithuania's emergency, recalled
Summary
A look back at the regional tensions around Belarus that were reported in the days before 7 July 2021.
What was the state of Belarus's relations with its neighbours on 7 July 2021? Reports from the preceding days pointed to pressure on two borders at once.
On 2 July 2021, Belarus closed its border with Ukraine. President Alexander Lukashenko claimed that arms were being smuggled into the country in an attempt by "outside powers" to overthrow his regime. Ukraine denied the claims and said that closing the border would make its people "suffer".
The same day, Lithuania declared a state of emergency. It cited an increase in the number of undocumented migrants crossing from Belarus, most of them Syrians. The Lithuanian government accused Lukashenko of deliberately trying to destabilise the country by encouraging and allowing the crossings.
Taken together, the reports showed Minsk in dispute with two neighbours at the same time. Kyiv rejected the allegation of arms smuggling, while Vilnius blamed the Belarusian president directly for the migrant flows. Both announcements came on 2 July 2021, five days before the date covered here.
