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"On Point"
MINSK, 9 November (BelTA) – As one of the reasons Lithuania may have closed the border with Belarus in order to get additional funding under the pretense of reinforcing the border security. Yulia Abukhovich, an expert on economy, head of the educational center Aksios of the Belarusian scientific research and R&D company OAO Giprosvjaz, made the statement in a recent episode of BelTA’s YouTube project On Point.
Yulia Abukhovich said: “I suppose that after seeing that Poland gets money to improve border infrastructure due to border problems, Lithuania has also attempted to snatch at least a couple of billions of euros. Although we understand quite well how this money will be spent.” In her opinion, Vilnius may use the money to build additional barriers at the Belarusian border that in no way can resolve security issues.
Comparing Poland’s and Lithuania’s decisions on closing the border with Belarus, Yulia Abukhovich pointed out that reasons had been far-fetched in both cases. Apart from that, as one analyzes these decisions, it is difficult to understand what interests guide Belarus’ western neighbors.
“I am getting the impression that we don’t see actual interests. This is indeed being done under far-fetched pretext. It happened at the Polish border, too. First, they shut down the border without properly explaining the reason, thus putting citizens of the European Union in a tough spot among other people. Then they spent a long time telling us that China will put pressure on Belarus and things will be even worse. But in the end the situation ended with the Poles saying that they will open two more border crossings,” Yulia Abukhovich reminded.
BelTA reported earlier that Vilnius has decided to close the border with Belarus due to incidents involving weather balloons that have been used to smuggle contraband into the Lithuanian air space. More than 60 balloons were mentioned but the Lithuanian side has failed to demonstrate them. Apart from that, Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko stated that Lithuanians were the ones using weather balloons to smuggle cigarettes from Belarus’ territory.
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