For the first time in 28 years, Belarus has introduced controls at the border with Russia. This is stated by Foreign Minister Sergej Alejnik.
The controls are suspected to be a way to stop Russians who want to escape military service.
Sergej Alejnik says that the checks must be carried out in cooperation with Russian border guards.
– It is not a control in the true sense, more a monitoring of the situation at the border, Alejnik tells media in Moscow.
Human rights groups claim that it is about controls, which are being introduced to stop Russian men fleeing to avoid military service in the war in Ukraine.
The checks began on May 5, but no authorities have commented on them until Alejnik raised them on Wednesday.
On the same day, Maksut Shadayev, the Russian minister responsible for digital development, stated that a database of all Russians who can serve in the army should be ready by the fall, when digital conscription will be introduced.
Under a new Russian law, anyone who receives a digital summons is prohibited from leaving the country before reporting to the authorities.
Since the war in Ukraine began, thousands of Russians have fled to Belarus to avoid military service.
– Alexander Lukashenko responds to all threats with increased controls that also benefit Russia, which in turn wants to limit the opportunities for those who want to flee the country and avoid participating in the war in Ukraine, says Pavel Sapelko of the Belarusian human rights organization Vyasna about the country’s president.
Controls along the roughly 120-mile-long border were abolished in 1995.