(Bloomberg) -- Belarus said it heightened security along its western border with Poland and Lithuania after President Alexander Lukashenko threatened to restrict access to the two European Union neighbors.
Reserves were called up to help patrol the border, the State Border Committee said in a statement posted on Telegram Friday.
Lukashenko, who’s facing the biggest challenge of his 26-year rule after the country’s disputed Aug. 9 vote, has blamed the West for inciting mass protests that have shown no sign of flagging and drawn closer to Russia.
“We’ve been forced to withdraw the troops from the streets, put half of the army on high alert and close the state border from the west, primarily with Lithuania and Poland,” Lukashenko said Thursday, addressing a women-only support rally at an ice hockey arena in Minsk. “We have been forced to strengthen the state border, unfortunately, with our fraternal Ukraine.”
Lukashenko last month made an as-yet empty threat to shift cargo flows from Lithuanian ports to Russia.
The borders remained open Friday and Polish and Lithuanian officials said they’re watching the situation. Lines haven’t formed yet at border check points to Lithuania, according to live monitoring information on the Baltic country’s State Border Committee website.
“There have been statements that half of the army has been thrown to guard the Western border, as if something is threatening from here, something is going to attack,” Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius said in an interview with Lithuanian Radio. “This is an unbalanced response to the situation from an unbalanced person.”