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After the long weekend, around 3,000 passenger cars are waiting to enter Poland, BelTA learned from the State Border Committee of Belarus.
In a move to manage freight traffic, Belarus temporarily suspended the exit of all trucks with Lithuanian licenses as from 9.00 in the morning on 10 November, the State Border Committee of Belarus informed. The border service is monitoring the situation and remains in a constant state of readiness to respond to any changes.
Over the past three days, the Lithuanian checkpoint Medininkai (Kamenny Log on the Belarusian side) has processed the fewest number of trucks. It cleared only 16% of the normal volume of transport.
Some 250 trucks are waiting to enter the EU at the Latvian border checkpoint Paternieki (Grigorovshchina on the Belarusian side), where 31% of vehicles was checked out to enter Latvia since Friday.
630 trucks are queuing at Kukuryki (Kozlovichi on the Belarusian side) to enter Poland with. Over the past weekend, the Polish checkpoint cleared 32% of the normal number of trucks.Some 2,970 passenger cars are backed up at the Terespol border checkpoint (opposite Brest", the only one open for car traffic on the Polish side. Polish border services have processed only 32% of the usual number of vehicles for the past three days.
During a working trip to Gomel Oblast on 6 November, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko emphasized the need to create more attractive living conditions in agrotowns, BelTA has learned.It is a well known fact that villagers often seek to move to cities for more comfortable, attractive living conditions and more developed infrastructure. However, the president has repeatedly stressed that the village must not be lost under any circumstances. The state faces a critical task: to preserve the village. “You can’t drag people there with a lasso or a rope. Therefore, we must create conditions and change the system,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said. State programs for rural revival are also aimed at this. “In social terms, this means creating agrotowns. For instance, there are 14 of them in Mozyr District. These are large villages where everything should be like in a city: a kindergarten, a school, a bank,” the president said.
Ahead of the long weekend, 3,000 passenger cars are waiting to enter Poland, BelTA learned from the State Border Committee of Belarus.
“The tense situation with vehicles waiting to enter the adjacent European territory persists on the Belarus-EU border. The border services of Lithuania, Latvia, and Poland daily ignore the established norms for vehicle clearance,” the Belarusian border service emphasized.
The busiest route for trucks to enter the European Union is via the Polish checkpoint Kukuryki (Kozlovichi on the Belarusian side), with 1,490 trucks queuing. Over the past 24 hours, the Polish checkpoint cleared 64% of the normal number of trucks.
Some 790 trucks are queuing at the Lithuanian border checkpoint Medininkai (Kamenny Log on the Belarusian side). Its services processed only 14% of the usual traffic volume.
Some 360 trucks are waiting to enter the EU at the Latvian border checkpoint Paternieki (Grigorovshchina on the Belarusian side), where 26% of vehicles was checked out to enter Latvia.
A total of 3,000 passenger cars and 155 buses queuing to enter Poland near the border checkpoint Terespol (Brest on the Belarusian side), the only one available for passenger cars on the Polish border. The Polish checkpoint handled 33% of the normal number of vehicles over the past 24 hours.
Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko has instructed the State Control Committee to examine the market of tobacco goods and alcohol-containing products, BelTA learned from Chairman of the State Control Committee Vasily Gerasimov after the official delivered a report to the head of state.
Vasily Gerasimov said: “You know that the matter of tobacco goods has been gaining attention recently. The head of state told us everything. But all of us have been instructed to examine the market of tobacco goods and alcohol-containing products. Starting with the distribution of quotas and ending with trade in these products in the territory of the republic. We will have to take the toughest measures and report back to the head of state.”
The West rejects Belarus’ calls for dialogue and continues intensive militarization, a threat that will affect the entire CIS, State Secretary of Belarus’ Security Council Aleksandr Volfovich told the media following the annual meeting of CIS Security Council Secretaries held in Moscow on 5 November, BelTA has learned.
“One cannot ignore the situation unfolding on our western borders. Unfortunately, the West has not responded to Belarus’ calls for dialogue and constructive solutions. Instead, it continues intensive militarization, pouring huge sums in defense spending, acquiring new types of weapons and military equipment, conducting numerous exercises near the territory of the Republic of Belarus, and preparing infrastructure for combat operations, especially in border areas: they resettle the population from a 50‑kilometer zone, flood certain areas, build engineering barriers, and deploy reconnaissance equipment, effectively creating a fortified strip 50 kilometers wide along the frontier,” Aleksandr Volfovich said.“Why is this happening?
The West is preparing for war. To justify the funds invested in weapons, equipment, and infrastructure, they need an enemy. Where will they find this enemy? In the East. Who will it be? Russia and Belarus,” he noted.Aleksandr Volfovich stressed that this position was conveyed by the Belarusian side to CIS partners at the meeting. “This is not only Belarus’ problem today; this threat will affect the entire CIS,” he warned.
Belarus is ready to do everything necessary to ensure India's successful presidency of BRICS in the upcoming year of 2026, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko said as he met with Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of India to Belarus Ashok Kumar in Minsk on 4 November, BelTA has learned.
“We are ready to work with you under your presidency in BRICS and are prepared to do everything necessary to ensure your chairmanship is a success. We are grateful to you for the assistance and support you provided us with during our accession to the SCO, as well as for the partnership within BRICS. We gladly rely on your help and support. And you have never refused us this help and support,” the head of state said.
Belarus currently holds the status of a BRICS partner country. This status was officially formalized at the end of 2024 after receiving an invitation and signing the relevant document, and since the start of 2025, Belarus has officially joined the work of the organization.
2025 saw the army commission over 200 samples of weapons, military hardware, and special hardware, BelTA learned from Belarusian Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin during an educational seminar held for the army’s managerial personnel in Lepel District, Vitebsk Oblast.
Viktor Khrenin said: “In any academic year the degree, the level, and the direction of training of the Armed Forces always depend on the situation around the Republic of Belarus. Regretfully, the situation is not getting better. The tensions continue rising. We see it in actions of the leadership of the collective West, in the frantic militarization, in increased spending on military needs, on buying offensive weapons, particularly in neighboring countries. Their aggressive rhetoric towards us indicates that we need to take into account these conditions and adequately respond and train our Armed Forces.”
One of the accomplished tasks is the enhancement of the combat potential by increasing the combat component of the army. “It has been achieved primarily thanks to the optimization of normal activities, by means of setting up new units and enlarging the existing ones, by merging them with commands and army units, by optimizing the managerial staff. We’ve managed to accomplish a great deal in equipping our troops with modern weapon systems. This year we’ve commissioned over 200 various samples of weapons, military hardware, and special hardware. On the whole, this year the Armed Forces have received over 35,000 various samples of hardware and military technology,” the minister noted.
A seminar for senior personnel of Belarus’ Armed Forces took place in a military training area in Lepel District, Vitebsk Oblast on 4 November. The purpose of the seminar was to get the army officers to work out unified understanding of the sequences and methods of training functionaries of military command bodies and troops in the new academic year.
Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko heard a report from Prime Minister Aleksandr Turchin on 3 November, BelTA learned.
The main topic of the report was the agenda for the upcoming visit of a Belarusian government delegation to Kazakhstan. Key current issues and promising avenues of Belarus-Kazakhstan cooperation to be discussed during the negotiations were reviewed.Cooperation with Kazakhstan was also discussed during a telephone conversation between Aleksandr Lukashenko and President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev of Kazakhstan on 29 October. The heads of state agreed that a Belarusian government delegation would visit Kazakhstan dhortly and present specific proposals for deepening cooperation.
The prime minister also reported on a number of other important and current issues.
Since 1 January 2025, Belarus has hosted 196,855 travelers from 38 countries included in the visa-waiver program, with most of them arriving from neighboring Lithuania, Latvia and Poland, BelTA learned from the State Border Committee.
A total of 1,228,592 European residents have visited Belarus since 15 April 2022. They included 394,668 visitors from Latvia, 655,021 people from Lithuania and 125,897 visitors from Poland. On 19 July 2024 the visa-waiver program was extended to include 35 more countries. A total of 53,006 citizens of these countries have visited Belarus.
The border committee also recalled that the head of state extended the visa-waiver program for citizens of 38 European countries. Foreigners will be able to come to Belarus without a visa until 31 December 2025. Detailed information about the visa waiver is available in the special section on the website of the State Border Committee and the Border of Belarus app.
Lithuanians themselves were smuggling cigarettes from Belarusian territory using weather balloons, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko said in response to a question from journalists on 31 October, BelTA has learned.
The head of state said Lithuanians themselves resorted to the cigarette trade due to border closures by neighboring countries. Aleksandr Lukashenko asserted that their own authorities pushed them into it by disrupting normal commerce and building a border fence.
“They put up a fence. People had gotten used to a different life – they had some kind of business going, they were involved in production. They could produce something and sell it to us, we could produce something and sell it to them. Trade was flowing. They put up this fence, and it severed, it cut these living connections. Millions of people were suddenly deprived of this work, the very thing they lived on, especially the Poles. Theirs is private production, so they are even more dependent on this trade than we are,” the Belarusian leader said. “The Lithuanian and Polish authorities are to blame for this happening. Why did you put people in such conditions? Why did you push them onto the path of crime?” the Belarusian leader remarked.
He stated that Belarusian citizens would buy cigarettes legally from the factory and sell them to Lithuanians who came into Belarus, pocketing a profit. The Lithuanians, in turn, moved the merchandise to their partners across the border using balloons, capitalizing on the price difference between Belarus and the EU.
“They set up this business. Our people get the cigarettes from the factory at a good price and sell them to the Lithuanians. They had to get them over the fence. They used these little balloons to send small batches across,” the president stated. “The Lithuanians on the other side would receive the balloons and take the cigarettes. They didn't sell them in Lithuania, but in the Netherlands and England. They say cigarettes are most expensive there.”
“How can I hold them [the Belarusian participants in this scheme] accountable? What is Belarus' guilt in this? I don't see any reason to punish these people. They wanted to earn money, and they did. It would be different if they had stolen these cigarettes... But no, they paid for them,” the head of state said.
