Poland will close its border with Belarus on Thursday in response to the large-scale Russia-Belarus joint military drills to be held close to the Polish border, Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced on Tuesday.
“For national security reasons, we will close the border with Belarus, including railway crossings, in connection with the Zapad manoeuvres on Thursday at midnight,” Tusk said addressing the government meeting. He described the Russian-Belarusian manoeuvres as “very aggressive from a military doctrine perspective”. Held in Western Russia and Belarus, “Zapad-2025" drills have caused concerns in neighbouring Poland, Lithuania and Latvia. The joint exercises are conducted every four years.
Asked about the duration of the border closure, Interior Minister Marcin Kierwinski said the borders would be re-opened when the government was sure "there was no more threat to Polish citizens.
In yet another security measure amid “Zapad-2025”, Poland will deploy 40,000 troops on its eastern border, Polish Deputy Defense Minister Cezary Tomczyk told Polsat News television late Wednesday. Polsat said Warsaw has been preparing for months for the Zapad 2025 maneuvers, which he dubbed offensive exercise. “The Polish Army has conducted exercises in which over 30,000 Polish soldiers, as well as soldiers of the NATO alliance, took part in order to adequately respond,” he stated.
Tomczyk called on “Polish and NATO soldiers to adequately respond to Zapad-2025, reminding that “This is where the war in Ukraine began” in February 2022.
The Belarusian Foreign Ministry said it had summoned the Polish charge d'affaires over the border closure, which it described as "an abuse of its geographical position". The decision to close the border comes amid the escalation of tensions between Minsk and Warsaw. after Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk claimed on Wednesday that 19 drones breached Poland’s airspace, and that a “large proportion” of the drones entered it from Russia’s ally Belarus.
