On January 22, Belarus president Alyaksandr Lukashenka signed the resolution on the protection of the state border of Belarus in 2018.
Fulfilling the routine task, Lukashenka made some bold statements. According to him, the moment is troubled, and border guards must do their best to catch terrorists and extremists, prevent smuggling, illegal migration and drug trafficking.
“The situation at the border will hardly improve significantly in the near future. Therefore, we need to step up efforts to modernize our border infrastructure, create normal conditions for border service, build border outposts, apply cutting-edge technologies in border protection,” he stressed.
Border Committee Chairman Anatol Lapo boasted of the fact that nearly 600 border violators were detained in 2017, which is significantly more than in previous years. He recalled that the state border was being strengthened and made more and more technologically advanced.
Which borders should be strengthened?
“That with Ukraine, as there is unrest in Donbas and Luhansk, and that with Russia – due to [criminals from] the Caucasus.”
“In order to fight crime and smuggling, it is necessary to close the border with Russia.”
“In 50-60% of cases, Russian criminals is a safety issue to Belarus,” residents of Minsk say.
The Belarusian town of Pinsk is still shocked at the recent robbery of a local businessman’s house: one of a wounded criminals came from Moscow region. And residents of Mahiliou remember a Russian citizen’s attempt to rob a bank and take hostages in November. It came to shooting in the streets. In addition, Belarusians living in the vicinity of the Russian border complain of the ‘river’ of counterfeit alcohol from Russia. There are neither border crossing points nor full-fledged border control there.
“It is hard to imagine Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s saying about guarding the border with Russia, because the so-called Union State and the Customs Union exist. Nevertheless, every day we come across information (which is mostly unofficial) that the protection of the Russian-Belarusian border has been enhanced on the both sides. Russia is placing additional patrols there, so is Belarus,” political commentator Vital Tsyhankou says.
Lukashenka: Belarus is island of security on Eurasian continent
“We spend a lot on protecting the state border. Today Belarus is an island of security on the Eurasian continent. We spend handsome amounts of money on preventing all kinds of migrants, bandits, charlatans, and criminal groups from reaching Europe and going back to the East. But frankly speaking, the international community, particularly Europeans, and Russians at that, could make a more vigorous financial contribution to our efforts to fight all kinds of trespassers,” Lukashenka said on Monday.
Policing of borders is our duty, not way to earn money
“A country protects its border not for the sake of Europe, Germany, Poland or Holland. Guarding its wwn border is in the interests of Belarus,” Mr. Tsyhankou believes.
The Belarusian leader has repeatedly threatened to give a green light to illegal migrants who are eager to get to Europe. This year, he has hinted that the Ukrainian direction might be opened. Does he expect Moscow to get frightened and give some extra money to Belarus?
Yaraslau Stseshyk, belsat.eu
