It’s “a matter of time” until Lithuania closes its border with Belarus, said Laurynas Kasčiūnas, head of the parliamentary Committee on National Security and Defense (NSGK).
“Closing some checkpoints is only a matter of time. It will definitely be done,” the MP from the conservative Homeland Union (TS-LKD), the head party in the ruling coalition, told LRT RADIO.
“I will not go into details now as to which of them, but if we see that the situation is worsening, then a decision will be made to close the border completely,” he added.
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During his visit to Poland on Thursday, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda said Vilnius, Warsaw, and Riga had to be ready to close their borders with Belarus together if the security situation deteriorated because of Russia’s Wagner mercenaries.
Previously, Polish officials said the authorities were considering a complete closure of the border with Belarus.
“We are a bit different from the Poles, who are demonstrating their force at the border a bit more publicly,” said Kasčiūnas. “We do less of that publicly, but the whole plan [...] is in place. At some stage, our armed forces would also be involved.”
On Thursday, Nausėda and Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said there were around 4,000 Wagner mercenaries in Belarus, but the number could grow.
Polish and Lithuanian officials say the presence of Wagner in Belarus, expelled from Russia following their short-lived rebellion in June, poses a threat. According to the Lithuanian president, any hostile actions by the Wagner troops would be considered actions taken by Russia.
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Update: Lithuania to close several border crossing points
Lithuania plans to close two of its six border crossing points, Interior Vice Minister Arnoldas Abramavičius confirmed later on Friday.
“A decision will be made soon on the closure of two border checkpoints. If today Poland has one checkpoint, we have six. One of the preventive measures would be to reduce the number of checkpoints from six to four,” Abramavičius told LRT RADIO.
The crossing points to be closed are in Šumskas and Tverečius. The government will have to make the final decision on this matter.
The closure of some of the existing border checkpoints on the border with Belarus will reduce risks, according to Saulius Nekraševičius, deputy head of the State Border Guard Service (VSAT).
“Our Polish neighbours have closed their border crossing points [with Belarus] in stages, and they currently have one international road border checkpoint and three or four railway border checkpoints. So we would be contributing to a regional solution to apply uniform measures,” Nekraševičius told BNS.
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