As of midnight on Thursday, all border crossings with Belarus are closed until further notice. Traffic in both directions has been suspended. The Minister of the Interior and Administration, Marcin Kierwiński, emphasised in Terespol that traffic will only be resumed once the safety of Poles is fully guaranteed.
The closure of all border crossings with Belarus was announced on Tuesday by Prime Minister Donald Tusk. He explained that the decision is connected with the start on Friday of the aggressive Russian-Belarusian military exercises Zapad-2025.
During a press conference at midnight in Terespol, Minister Kierwiński stated that these manoeuvres are directly aimed “at Poland, at the European Union.”
“Another issue illustrating this aggressive behaviour is what happened two nights ago in Polish airspace,” Kierwiński said. He stressed that the decision to close the borders “should be viewed in terms of ensuring security.”
The suspension of border traffic with the Republic of Belarus applies in both directions, exits from Poland to Belarus and entries into our country. It covers both road transport and freight trains.
Passenger car drivers will not be able to cross the border at the Terespol-Brest road crossing, while truck drivers are cut off from the Kukuryki-Kozlovichi road crossing. Three railway freight crossings have also been closed: Kuźnica Białostocka-Grodno, Siemianówka-Svisloch, and Terespol-Brest.
“This movement will be resumed, but only when we are certain that the safety of Poles is guaranteed, that we face no provocations, no aggressive actions. Of course, for economic reasons, we will do everything to keep this closure as short as possible. But the decision I signed, closing the border crossings, is a decision without a specified period, a decision valid until further notice,”
Kierwiński said.
“We will continue to monitor the situation and, if necessary, make decisions about restoring border traffic,” he emphasised.
He added that the last hours of the Polish-Belarusian border crossings’ operation passed calmly, without “bad intentions.”
The minister also stated that all departments have been tasked with preparing possible assessments of potential losses suffered by businesses.
“Based on the scale of these losses and the duration of the border closure, we will decide on possible support for individual industries,” Kierwiński noted. He added that “these are decisions yet to be made.”
Asked by journalists about transport operators who claimed they did not manage to reach the border before its closure, arguing they had too little time, Kierwiński replied that the decision was announced on Tuesday, two and a half days earlier, providing enough time to adjust plans. He stressed that the border is now closed and will remain shut in the coming days, and that carriers must use other, alternative crossings.
The minister also answered questions from the media regarding the possible extension of controls at the German border. He announced that a decision will be made after September 15. “It is highly probable that these controls will be extended,” he cautioned.
The Ministry of the Interior and Administration’s regulation on the temporary suspension of border traffic at crossings with Belarus was published in the Journal of Laws on Wednesday. The ministry informed that the closure would take effect from midnight on September 12 this year.
In its justification, the ministry stressed that “the complete suspension of border traffic at the crossings will serve as a clear signal of Poland’s readiness to take radical measures in the event of a deteriorating security situation on the border.”
The ministry explained that due to the risk of the Zapad-2025 military exercises being extended, the suspension of border traffic will only be lifted after their conclusion.
“The suspension of border traffic with Belarus will also allow the Border Guard to allocate more forces to monitoring the border for illegal migration, which will additionally improve the security of the Republic of Poland in the context of possible attempts to illegally cross the border by individuals who may pose a threat, for example due to ties with terrorist organizations or involvement in sabotage activities on Polish territory,”
the ministry added.
The Zapad-2025 manoeuvres are officially scheduled for September 12-16, with 13,000 soldiers expected to participate. However, Germany’s Bundeswehr Inspector General Carsten Breuer said last Monday that the exercises would involve 13,000 troops in Belarus and 30,000 in Russia. Lithuanian authorities presented lower estimates, up to 30,000 Belarusian and Russian military personnel combined. Breuer stated that there are no indications of a NATO attack being prepared under the guise of Zapad-2025, but he stressed that German and NATO forces would remain vigilant.
On Wednesday morning, Poland’s Operational Command of the Armed Forces announced that drones had repeatedly violated Polish airspace during Russian strikes on targets in Ukraine. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz declared that drones which could have posed a threat were shot down.