Mines and roadblocks: what has changed in the Ukrainian-Belarusian border area | Belarus: view from Europe – DW special project | DV
The city of Malorita in the Brest region, which is home to more than 12 thousand people, is the farthest regional center from the Belarusian capital. But the border with Ukraine is located very close here: along the highway, the distance to it is about 17 kilometers. However, now the checkpoint in the Maloritsky district is closed, as well as the railway line in accordance with the Ukrainian Kovel. It seems that trains and cars will resume their movement across the road for a very long time.
What is happening in the Belarusian-Ukrainian border area?
People in Malorita admit that the border and transit status notices the impact on the life of their city and nearby villages. “We don’t have large enterprises, so for many residents the opportunity to earn money was covered with the border. It’s profitable to resell,” says local businesswoman Galina.
Train station in Malorita
According to the women, before the pandemic, she usually went shopping at least twice a week either to the northern Ukrainian regional center of Ratno or to the border railway station Zabolotye. And if the Belarusians in the neighboring territory were attracted by the possibility of economical shopping, then they wanted Ukrainian border villages to come to Malorita or Brest, including for employment.
Communications teacher from Malorita, Natalia, recalls that until recently, border communications were actively supported on an informal level. “The neighboring Ukrainian regional center Ratno was twinned with Malorita, and guests often meet in the selected district executive committee, but most of all there are joint holidays in the park in the neutral zone,” – coastal Natalya.
“Friendship Park” on the Belarusian-Ukrainian territory appeared in Soviet times, but the tradition to celebrate this celebration, which survived after the collapse of the USSR, when the Mokrany checkpoint was set up nearby.
“Of course, in the new conditions, getting into the park was no longer so easy – a warning about this airport and a passport check were required, but the joint festivities continued. Ukrainian hryvnia,” recalled Galina, who herself was an active participant in concerts and events in those years.
Roadblocks and mines appeared on the border
The tradition of spending holidays in Friendship Park was interrupted due to the events on the Maidan in 2014, when control at the border crossing became stricter. As the locals noted, since then there has already been a sense of sensitivity among the organizers of the events, which was especially noticeable in the actions of the Belarusian side.
After the 2020 presidential election, Alexander Lukashenko and representatives of law enforcement agencies subordinate to him have repeatedly spoken out about the fact that weapons and punishments intended to overthrow the current government happen through the Ukrainian election campaign in Belarus.
District Executive Committee in Malorita
As explained on condition of anonymity by the inhabitants of Malorita, who until recently were related to the service on the border, at the same time mobile frontier posts began to appear on the Ukrainian deployment. “One of them was opened at the end of 2021 in the Malorita district, explaining that this is necessary to combat illegal inspection, drug trafficking and other phenomena, natural properties on the border,” says DW’s interlocutor.
After the Russian intervention in Ukraine, the rhetoric of the Belarusian authorities regarding the situation in the border area began to change. At the end of June 2022, the Commander of the Special Operations Forces of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Belarus, Vadim Denisenko, who visited the Maloritsky District, admitted that now not only mobile border outposts were equipped there: checkpoints and even “mine-explosive fences” appeared.
In turn, the Ukrainian side also stated that the territory in the Volyn region, which borders on Belarus, is now mined. Citizens are asked to be careful when visiting forests and driving along roadsides, paying attention to the signs “Danger – mines!”. As the command of the increase in the territorial defense brigade explains, such measures are taken in accordance with the principle of maintaining the invasion on the territory of Belarus.
Judgment for anti-war stop
In Malorita herself, her suspicion to suspicion in the situation in Ukraine is revealed, many people beware. One of those who did not hesitate to do so was local administration activist Lyudmila Romanovich, who sent a letter to Alexander Lukashenko’s website in early March 2022. The woman voiced her negative attitude to the unleashed war in Ukraine in Ukraine and protest against the possible participation of Belarus in these actions, which demanded Russian troops in connection with the territory of the country.
Checkpoint in the Ukrainian-Belarusian border area
Soon Lyudmila Romanovich was detained: a search was conducted in her house, and on June 20, the court sentenced the activist to a year and a half in prison on charges of “insulting the President of Belarus” (supposedly in the mentioned word “usurper”). At the end of July, the Brest Regional Court, having considered the complaint of a resident of Malorita, upheld the verdict.
The act of Ludmila Romanovich, who is known to many in the city, is expressed on a global scale with approval, but they admit that they are discouraged by the reaction of the authorities. “Lyudmila is a brave woman, she has been in opposition for a long time, but in order to say so to a person for his opinion…”, considers businesswoman Galina.
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