Lukashenko calls situation on Belarus' southern border increasingly complicated

The situation on Belarus' southern border is getting more and more complicated, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko said while approving the decision on the state border protection for 2022 on 24 January, BelTA has learned.

“Naturally, the security of our state begins with the border, because our sovereignty is safe within our border. The border troops make a considerable contribution to ensuring sovereignty and our effective work in a peaceful period,” the head of state said.

Aleksandr Lukashenko noted that in 2021, due to the influx of refugees and the deployment of troops from neighboring countries along the Belarusian border, the border guards had to be more vigilant and participate in reconnaissance activities together with the Armed Forces and the State Security Committee. “There is a lot of talk now about our southern border. The situation is getting more complicated all the time. They are trying to shift the focus to our joint exercises with the Russian Federation,” the president noted.

According to the State Border Committee, the risks and challenges to border security still persist on the border of Belarus. They are associated with illegal migration, attempts by radicals to infiltrate the country, militarization of neighboring states. For example, since August of last year, the EU countries and Ukraine have amassed a total of about 32,000 troops in the immediate vicinity of the Belarusian border. They continue the construction of stationary engineering barriers along the border, have been actively using aviation, conducting reconnaissance.

"In 2021, the number of detained border violators increased by 23%. Among those detained were sixty-five extremists," the border agency said.

The border authorities continue to work to improve the infrastructure of the border and the border areas. Tens of kilometers of new security lines with roads, posts and control and trace strips have been built in the Baltic direction. A part of the remote sensor systems has been replaced and modernized on the Belarusian-Polish section.

The largest amount of work has been carried out on the Belarusian border with Ukraine. The measures taken included the installation of technical observation posts for remote monitoring, signaling complexes, and new border surveillance systems.

In 2022, the main focus will be on the areas where the country might face new external challenges and threats to border security, especially in the Ukrainian direction, the State Border Committee said.

“The border services have clear-cut tasks. One of the main tasks is to increase the efficiency of state border protection by improving the engineering and technical equipment of the border. The situation in the border area will be constantly monitored to detect signs of provocations and promptly take measures to stop them,” the committee said.

The plans also include the completion of demarcation of the junction of the borders of Belarus, Poland and Ukraine in Brest Oblast. “Border services, including in cooperation with the Defense Ministry, will continue the planned build-up of resources, including mobilization ones,” the committee added.