Belarusian lawmaker criticises Latvia over border closures

A senior Belarusian lawmaker has accused Latvia of deliberately creating long delays at the Belarusian border, describing the measures as "a mockery of the people."

Oleg Gaidukevich, deputy chairman of the Standing Committee on International Affairs of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of Belarus, said there were no objective reasons for the restrictions imposed by the Latvian authorities, Caliber.Az reports, citing Russian media.

According to Gaidukevich, travellers have been forced to wait for more than 12 hours to cross the border because of the way the Latvian side is managing the checkpoint.

“Latvian officials are mocking people at the border with Belarus. People are waiting in line for 12 hours or more. The border crossing is alternately closed and opened, and officials are deliberately working slowly,” Gaidukevich said.

The comments came after Latvian Interior Minister Jānis Dombrava announced on July 31 that Latvia had temporarily closed its border crossing with Belarus because of technical problems.

The following day, Belarus' State Customs Committee confirmed that traffic through the only operating border checkpoint, Grigorovshchina, had been fully suspended from 11:00 p.m. on July 31 following a decision by the Latvian authorities.

Latvia has said the disruption was caused by a technical malfunction affecting border control systems and has stated that preliminary findings do not indicate any external interference or cyberattack.

By Sabina Mammadli