Belarus’s dictator Aleksander Lukashenko ordered to close the borders with Ukraine on July 2. He claimed he wanted to stop what he called “a huge inflow of weapons” from Ukraine.
“A huge amount of weapons comes from Ukraine to Belarus. Therefore, I instructed the border troops to completely close the border with Ukraine,” Lukashenko said during the Independence Day event.
He also claimed there were “dormant terrorist organizations” in Belarus that were preparing a coup. He claimed those organizations were coordinated by foreign countries, including Ukraine.
Authorities in Kyiv have immediately denied the accusations.
“Ukraine categorically rejects the accusations of Alexander Lukashenko about the alleged supply of weapons. We have never interfered in the internal affairs of Belarus. We are not going to do it in the future,” said Oleh Nikolenko, the spokesperson for Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry. Belarus has not yet notified Ukraine about the border closure, he added.
Although Ukraine canceled all flights to Belarus following Lukashenko hijacking a passenger plane in May, the land border remains open.
Despite Lukashenko’s announcement, Ukraine said that as of July 2 the border wasn’t yet closed.
Belarus has been in turmoil since the August 2020 presidential election, where Lukashenko proclaimed himself the winner despite numerous signs the election was rigged. Mass protests erupted in Belarus and were violently suppressed by Lukashenko.
World leaders condemned Lukashenko’s crackdown on demonstrators and imposed sanctions on his regime.
It didn’t tame Lukashenko, who rules Belarus since 1994 and is dubbed “Europe’s last dictator.”
On May 23, Lukashenko ordered to hijack the Ryanair passenger plane passing over Belarus en route from Athens to Vilnius with his critic, journalist Roman Protasevich onboard.
Belarusian authorities falsely claimed that the passenger plane had a bomb on it. Despite being 10 minutes from the Lithuanian border, the plane was forced to turn around and land in Minsk.
Belarusian KGB agents raided the plane and arrested Protasevich and his girlfriend Sofia Sapega, a Russian national.
Read more: Lukashenko’s revenge: 436 political prisoners, including 35 journalists jailed
Western countries imposed a new set of sanctions on Belarus to punish it for the action, and the European Union and Ukraine have also banned Belarus-registered flights from entering their airspace.
