Lithuania will close two of its six border crossings with Belarus on Friday in response to the presence of the mercenaries of the Wagner group in the territory of the neighboring country, the government of the Baltic country announced on Wednesday.
The Lithuanian Council of Ministers approved the proposal of the Ministry of Transport to close two points, in Šumsk and Tverecuis, to centralize most of the activities and controls to the largest border post, in Medininkai.
(Also read: Lukashenko rules out an attack by Wagner’s mercenaries on Poland from Belarus.)
“This decision is a preventive measure aimed at controlling threats to national security and possible provocations at the border,” said the head of the Interior, Agne Bilotaite.
The closure of border crossings responds to the transfer to Belarusian territory of the mercenaries of the Russian Wagner group.
The Medininkai border crossing is considered the best technically equipped and has control systems that are not available at the points that will be closed.
(Keep reading: Did the Wagner Group start operating in Belarus? This is what authorities in that country say).
With additional border guards and customs inspectors at this border point, “the situation regarding vehicle queues and cargo transportation should not fundamentally change,” according to a spokesman for the Ministry of Transport.
In Lithuanian media it is considered that the decision on these two border points could be the first step towards the complete closure of the border with Belarus.
The website of the Lithuanian public broadcaster Lrt.lt quoted Bilotaite as saying that the Baltic countries and Poland are talking about the possibilities of completely closing the borders. with Belarus and that the final details will be coordinated at a meeting in Warsaw on August 28.
Information about the presence and activities of the Wagner group in Belarus is contradictory, although the Lithuanian State Border Guard Service estimates that the number of Wagnerites may be as high as 4,500.
The announcement of the closure of two Lithuanian border crossings occurred while in Latvia the permits for its border guard were canceled and the troops on its border with Belarus after detecting an increase in irregular border crossings.
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The concentration of migrants from the Middle East and elsewhere encouraged by Belarus on the borders with Lithuania, Latvia and Poland is seen as a “hybrid war” aimed at overburdening the border guards and social services of the countries that they welcome Belarusian dissidents and support Ukraine in its war with Russia.
EFE
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