Belarus to close borders with Ukraine, orders Lukashenko

Alexander Lukashenko, Belarus’ leader, ordered the closure of the border with Ukraine, on Friday. The move is to block the inflow of weapons to coup plotters that were detected by Lukashenko’s security services.

Belarus has had a standoff with critics of Lukashenko’s government since May last year when a flight was forced down and a critic of the government who was on board was arrested.

Ties with Western countries also soured with them imposing sanctions on Belarus. Lukashenko blames Western enemies for trying to oust him from power. Lukashenko also claims to have uncovered the plotting of a coup by rebel groups.

Ordering the closure Friday, Lukashenko said, “A huge amount of weapons is coming from Ukraine to Belarus. That’s why I ordered border-security forces to fully close the border with Ukraine.”