{"id":565058,"date":"2026-08-03T13:09:44","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T10:09:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reform.news\/?p=565058"},"modified":"2026-08-03T14:50:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T11:50:08","slug":"belarusian-foreign-ministry-threatens-latvia-with-asymmetrical-measures-over-border-crossing-closure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/belarusian-foreign-ministry-threatens-latvia-with-asymmetrical-measures-over-border-crossing-closure","title":{"rendered":"Belarusian Foreign Ministry Threatens Latvia With Asymmetrical Measures Over Border Crossing Closure"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Belarus’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has issued a statement following the suspension<\/a> of operations at Latvia’s P\u0101ternieki border crossing on the frontier with Belarus. The ministry said it does not believe the Latvian explanation that the suspension was caused by a “technical failure.” Instead, it described the move as politically motivated and threatened Latvia with asymmetrical retaliatory measures.<\/p>\n

“References to a ‘technical failure’ at the Latvian P\u0101ternieki border crossing appear entirely unconvincing, especially given statements from drivers themselves that they had been instructed to turn back in accordance with a written order from Latvia’s Minister of the Interior, J\u0101nis Dombrava<\/b>.<\/em><\/p>\n

It is obvious that the alleged malfunction is merely another link in the chain of politicising the border issue. The fact that the decision to effectively close the crossing on an emergency basis was taken personally by the interior minister \u2013 the leader of one of the country’s political parties \u2013 leaves no doubt that this cynical step is driven by the upcoming parliamentary elections scheduled for Oct. 3,”<\/em> the Belarusian ministry said.<\/p>\n

“The minister’s recent calls for Latvian citizens to refrain from travelling to Belarus follow the same logic. This comes despite the significant interest shown by Latvians in travelling to our country,”<\/em> the statement added.<\/p>\n

Minsk also criticised Riga for failing to provide advance notice of the border crossing closure.<\/p>\n

“The situation mirrors the discourteous practice of the Lithuanian authorities at the end of 2025, when the border was also closed without prior warning under a far-fetched pretext. Moreover, such irresponsible actions cause tangible damage to international trade by disrupting transit routes between the European Union and China, as well as the countries of Central Asia, while also harming Latvia’s own economic interests.<\/em><\/p>\n

In this regard, it would be useful for the competent Latvian authorities to conduct their own investigation and determine where the real failure occurred \u2013 in their information systems or in the political bias of their leadership. Notably, there appear to be no ‘technical problems’ at the border with Russia, where traffic continues uninterrupted,”<\/em> the ministry added.<\/p>\n

The Belarusian ministry described the incident as a violation of European values.<\/p>\n

“The freedom of movement of citizens has once again been sacrificed to short-term domestic political considerations. Even if technical problems did in fact occur, it is doubtful that Latvia joined the European Union for such a level of technological resilience.<\/em><\/p>\n

In response to this unfriendly step, the Belarusian side reserves the right to take retaliatory measures against Latvia, including asymmetrical ones, in order to protect the national interests and citizens of Belarus. Full responsibility for the consequences of such decisions rests with the official authorities in Riga,”<\/em> the ministry concluded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Belarus’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has issued a statement following the suspension of operations at Latvia’s P\u0101ternieki border crossing on the frontier with Belarus. The ministry said it does not believe the Latvian explanation that the suspension was caused by a “technical failure.” Instead, it described the move as politically motivated and threatened Latvia with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":119,"featured_media":507150,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sharing_image":{"poster":"https:\/\/reform.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/6a708076205d7.jpg","width":1200,"height":630,"template":"691142dd","mode":"auto"},"_sharing_image_fieldset":{"dTVKfmI95PYT":"Belarusian Foreign Ministry Threatens Latvia With Asymmetrical Measures Over Border Crossing Closure"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[142339,142338,143090],"tags":[143118,143171],"class_list":["post-565058","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-main","category-news","category-politics","tag-belarus","tag-latvija"],"wps_subtitle":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565058","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/119"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=565058"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565058\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/507150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=565058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=565058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=565058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}