"We will answer" — in Minsk reacted to Latvia's closure of the border with Belarus

Minsk will take retaliatory actions against Latvia, which has closed the border with Belarus. This is stated in the statement of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry.

According to the official representative of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry Ruslan Varankov, references to a technical malfunction at the Latvian checkpoint look frankly unconvincing.

"This looks especially unconvincing against the background of the confessions of the drivers themselves that they were advised to turn around in compliance with the written instructions of the Minister of Internal Affairs of Latvia, Mr. Dombrava. It is obvious that behind the imaginary breakdown lies the next link in the chain of instrumentalization of the border theme. The fact that the decision on the actual closure was urgently taken personally by Interior Minister Janis Dombrava, the leader of one of the political forces, leaves no doubt about the pre—election nature of this cynical step on the eve of the elections to the Latvian Seimas scheduled for October 3," the statement said.

The Foreign Ministry noted that "the recent appeals of the same minister to Latvian citizens to refuse to travel to Belarus are in the same logic."

"And this is against the background of significant interest of Latvians in traveling to our country. The most striking thing is that in the pursuit of political points in Riga, people have once again forgotten about people. No one bothered to notify the citizens in advance, making them a bargaining chip in the political game. The situation mirrors the unceremonious practice of the Lithuanian authorities at the end of 2025, when the border was also closed without warning under a far-fetched pretext. In addition, such irresponsible actions cause significant damage to international trade, undermining transit routes between the European Union and China, as well as the countries of Central Asia, and harm the economic interests of Latvia itself," the Foreign Ministry is convinced.

The Foreign Ministry noted that in this regard, "it would be useful for the Latvian competent authorities to conduct their own investigation and find out where the failure really occurred — in information systems or in the political bias of their leadership."

"It is characteristic that for some reason there are no "technical problems" on the border with Russia and the movement continues. We regard what has happened as another violation of the very "European values" that the Baltic states are so fond of talking about. The freedom of movement of citizens was again rudely sacrificed to the momentary domestic political conjuncture. However, even if there were problems in the systems, it is unlikely that Latvia joined the EU at one time for the sake of such a level of technological stability," Varankov said.

According to the representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, "in connection with this unfriendly step, the Belarusian side reserves the right to take retaliatory actions against Latvia, including those of an asymmetric nature, to protect the national interests and citizens of Belarus."

"The full responsibility for the consequences of such decisions falls on official Riga," the statement said.

Let us remind you that since the evening of July 31, Latvia has closed the last crossing on the border with Belarus "for technical reasons". At the same time, Riga advised Latvian citizens to look for an opportunity to return to the country themselves.