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Poland will close its border with Belarus on Tuesday as Russia and Belarus prepare to launch large-scale military exercises near Polish territory, Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced Tuesday.
The border closure comes as tensions escalate between Warsaw and Minsk over the "Zapad-2025" drills, which will be conducted in western Russia and Belarus beginning Friday. The exercises have heightened security concerns among NATO members Poland, Lithuania and Latvia.
"On Friday, Russian-Belarusian manoeuvres, very aggressive from a military doctrine perspective, begin in Belarus, very close to the Polish border," Tusk told a government meeting. "Therefore, for national security reasons, we will close the border with Belarus, including railway crossings, in connection with the Zapad manoeuvres on Thursday at midnight."
Interior Minister Marcin Kierwinski said the border would only reopen when the government was confident "there was no more threat to Polish citizens." The Belarusian Foreign Ministry summoned Poland's charge d'affaires to protest the closure, which it said "caused significant difficulties" and described as "an abuse of its geographical position."
The Zapad-2025 exercises will include drills on the possible use of nuclear weapons and the Russian-made, intermediate-range hypersonic Oreshnik missile, according to the Belarus defense minister. Lithuania's border guard announced Tuesday it would strengthen protection along its borders with Belarus and Russia due to the exercises.
NATO is conducting its own drills near the border around the same time as the Russian-Belarusian exercises. Both Poland and Lithuania began military exercises earlier this month with allied troops participating.
The border closure follows a series of espionage accusations between the countries. Tusk announced Tuesday that Poland had arrested a Belarusian spy and would expel a diplomat who "supported the aggressive action of the Belarusian state against Poland." He said the arrest resulted from cooperation with the Czech Republic and Romania.
Belarusian media reported Thursday that a Polish national had been arrested in Belarus on suspicion of espionage for possessing documents related to the Zapad exercises. Prague expelled a Belarusian diplomat Monday on espionage charges, while Romanian prosecutors are investigating a 47-year-old Moldovan former intelligence chief for treason.
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Already strained relations between Poland and Belarus have reached new lows since Belarus's ally Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. Poland has closed most border crossings with Belarus, leaving only two operational before Thursday's complete closure.
The Belarusian Foreign Ministry denounced the diplomat expulsions as "groundless" and "an element of coordinated provocative policy with the Czech side...with the aim of boosting tension in international relations and within the region."
"The temporary suspension of passage indicates rather an intention to conceal one's own actions than the existence of any threat from Belarus," the ministry said.
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