Poland delays Belarus border reopenings in solidarity with Lithuania

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By Andrius Sytas and Alan Charlish

VILNIUS/WARSAW (Reuters) -Warsaw said on Thursday it would not reopen more border crossings with close Russian ally Belarus until at least mid-November in a move intended to show solidarity with fellow NATO member Lithuania amid heightened security concerns.

Poland closed its border with Belarus six weeks ago because of what Warsaw said were “very aggressive” Russia-led military exercises on Belarusian territory, days after 21 Russian drones entered Polish airspace.

Lithuania shut its land border with Belarus this week in response to airspace disruptions by smuggling balloons and said on Wednesday they would remain closed until the end of November.

Poland has since then reopened one road border crossing with Belarus for cars and coaches, and one for cargo lorries, and Prime Minister Donald Tusk said this week that Warsaw would be ready to reopen two more border crossings in November.

He did not set a date and, following talks with Tusk on Wednesday, Lithuanian Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene said Poland had agreed to delay reopening those border crossings.

“The conversation (with Tusk) was very comprehensive and detailed. And we decided that the Polish prime minister will postpone the opening of the (Belarus) border,” Ruginiene told a press conference on Thursday.

“This means we are coordinating our actions. And for now, borders will be closed both in Poland and Lithuania.”

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Polish Interior Minister Marcin Kierwinski told public radio that Warsaw was showing solidarity with Lithuania.

“That’s why the opening of the crossings… is delayed by several weeks,” he said.

Apparently seeking to clarify Poland’s position, a Polish government spokesperson later told state news agency PAP that it was possible that more border crossings between Poland and Belarus would be reopened in mid-November.

Already strained relations between Poland and Belarus have hit new lows since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.

In the second such incident this week, Polish MiG-29 fighter aircraft intercepted a Russian reconnaissance plane over the Baltic Sea on Thursday, Polish Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said.

Latvia, which like Poland and Lithuania is a member of the European Union as well as the NATO military alliance, said on Thursday it was ready to close its sole remaining border crossing with Belarus if required.

“At the moment, we don’t see such threat to our border”, Prime Minister Evika Silina told reporters after meeting Ruginiene in Riga.

(Reporting by Andrius Sytas, Alan Charlish, Pawel Florkiewicz, Editing by Terje Solsvik and Timothy Heritage)