Belarus border closure and Lithuania's emergency declaration

What did Belarus's western and southern frontiers look like on 2 July 2021? Both were under strain, and both were blamed on President Alexander Lukashenko.

According to reports from that date, Belarus closed its border with Ukraine after Lukashenko claimed that arms were being smuggled into the country in an attempt by "outside powers" to overthrow his regime. He said they had crossed the line and that he could not forgive them. Ukraine denied the claims and said that closing the border would make its people suffer.

The same day, Lithuania declared a state of emergency amid an increase in the number of undocumented migrants crossing from Belarus. The Government of Lithuania accused Lukashenko of deliberately trying to destabilise the country by encouraging and allowing refugees, mostly Syrians, to cross the border.

Two neighbours, one accused

The two episodes were separate in substance. One was a security accusation directed at Kyiv, which rejected it. The other was a migration emergency in Lithuania, where officials pointed directly at the Belarusian leader. Yet they pointed to the same place: Minsk was in open dispute with neighbours on two sides.

For Ukraine, the practical concern was stated plainly in its response: ordinary people would bear the cost of a closed border. For Lithuania, the emergency declaration marked an official acknowledgement that the rise in crossings had become a matter of state-level concern.

A regional footnote

Elsewhere in the region, the last Polish troops had left Afghanistan on 30 June 2021, ending Poland's involvement in the war. Around 33,000 Polish troops served there, and 44 were killed in action.