Belarus Seeks to Ease Border Tensions with Lithuania and Poland Through Direct Negotiations

President Alexander Lukashenko has tasked Foreign Minister Maxim Ryzhenkov with orchestrating negotiations between Belarus and neighboring countries Lithuania and Poland, aiming to ease tensions along their shared borders.

The Belarus-Lithuania and Belarus-Poland borders have long been points of contention, with recent weeks seeing increased military mobilization and economic restrictions on both sides. Historian Dr. Vadim Karbalevich notes that the border dispute between Belarus and Lithuania is rooted in the country's complex history, including its occupation by Nazi Germany during World War II and its subsequent division into two zones controlled by the Soviet Union and Poland.