Icon: enlarge
Ruler Lukashenko
Photo:
Nikolai Petrov / dpa
Belarus closed its borders with the EU states Poland, Lithuania and Latvia as well as with Ukraine without warning.
Due to the "epidemiological situation" in some of Belarus' neighboring countries, entry will be restricted for a time, the country's border guard announced.
"We have to close the border," said ruler Alexander Lukashenko without giving a reason.
The border guard announced that diplomats and truck traffic would be allowed through.
Citizens from Belarus had previously complained at the border crossing points that they could not return to their homeland.
The decision by the border guards was also surprising in that the authorities have been downplaying the risk of the respiratory disease Covid-19 for months.
Lukashenko had described the corona pandemic as a "psychosis".
Belarus officially had 96,529 infected people by Thursday, 85,332 were considered recovered.
According to official reports, the number of deaths was 973. Doctors in Belarus consider these numbers to be embellished.
Border traffic with Russia works - despite the high number of infections
It was considered likely that there were more political reasons for the border closure.
Belarus’s relations with all four neighbors have been strained since they no longer recognized Lukashenko as president.
Border traffic works with Russia, which has extremely high numbers of infections and supports Lukashenko.
Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius said on the radio that Lithuania had not received any warnings through diplomatic channels.
He doubted the pandemic could be the main reason behind the border closure.
"This situation really surprised us," said Rustamas Liubajevas, the head of the Lithuanian border guards, according to the BNS agency.
The civil rights activist Svetlana Tichanowskaja said that the border closure was a sign of Lukashenko's weakness.
"He makes ill-considered decisions because he is in a panic," said the 38-year-old in her exile in the EU.
The democracy movement in Belarus, which has been protesting against Lukashenko for months, sees Tichanovskaya as the true winner of the August 9th presidential election.
Icon: The mirror
kfr / dpa