The government of Poland announced the closure of its border with Belarus starting Thursday at midnight as a precautionary measure in response to the joint military maneuvers between Russia and Belarus, known as "Zapad-2025" ("West-2025").
These large-scale maneuvers will begin on Friday and will take place in the west of Russia and Belarus, very close to the Polish border, which has triggered security alarms in neighboring countries and NATO members such as Lithuania and Latvia.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk justified the decision in a government meeting by stating that the maneuvers have a "very aggressive character from the point of view of military doctrine". Tusk emphasized that this is a necessary measure to protect national security in the face of an increasingly tense scenario in the region. The decision also includes the closure of railway crossings with Belarus.
Polish Interior Minister Marcin Kierwiński clarified that the reopening of the border will depend on the government being certain that "there is no longer any threat to Polish citizens." Poland had already closed most of its border crossings with Belarus in recent years, and currently only two remained operational, which will now also be deactivated.
The measure has caused a strong response from Belarus, whose Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned Poland's chargé d'affaires to express its formal protest.
Belarusian authorities described the closure as a unilateral decision that creates "significant difficulties," and considered it an abuse of Poland's geographical position. In addition, they suggested that the temporary suspension of the border crossing could be intended to conceal Warsaw's own actions rather than to respond to a real threat.
