US urges citizens to leave Belarus as Lithuania closes border
- 22 August, 17:42
The US embassy has called on its citizens to leave Belarus “immediately” and advised US citizens to abstain from visiting this country.
In a statement published on August 21, the embassy said US citizens remaining in the eastern European country must leave via the remaining border crossings with Lithuania and Latvia or by plane. The embassy also advised US citizens not to travel to Belarus “due to Belarusian authorities’ continued facilitation of Russia’s unprovoked attack on Ukraine," and other reasons, including the buildup of Russian military forces in Belarus. The US embassy issued a similar statement in April.
The statement comes after the neighboring Lithuania closed two border crossings - Sumsko and Tvereciaus -with Belarus on August 18 amid the growing tension in the region. Four other border crossings between the two countries remain open. Lithuania said the closing of border crossings was in response to escalation of tension with Belarus. Lithuania as well as Poland and Latvia have said that further closure of border crossings was possible.
Minsk has been criticized for allowing Russia use its territory as a staging ground for Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine. Belarus has also been hosting fighters of Russia’s Wagner private military company after the group’s failed mutiny in June. The US previously advised its citizens against visiting Belarus last January one month before Russia’s full-fledged invasion of Ukraine and order the departure of family members of American civil servants from Belarus.
