Speaking to state agency BelTA on the morning of 6 November, Aleksandr Wolfowicz, secretary of Belarus’s Security Council, condemned Poland’s and Lithuania’s ongoing partial closures of their Belarus borders. He claimed the neighbours were engaging in a “hybrid war” aimed at isolating Belarus and mischievously referenced NATO concerns about balloon-borne contraband to mock Polish security policy.
Warsaw shut all crossings with Belarus in September after Russian drones violated Polish airspace; two freight gates were briefly reopened in late October but remain closed following Lithuanian pressure. The closures have stranded thousands of lorries and led to a 19 % fall in eastbound freight through Poland’s north-eastern logistics corridor, according to the Association of International Road Carriers in Poland (ZMPD).
![Belarusian security chief brands Polish-Lithuanian border closures ‘hybrid war’]()
Wolfowicz’s comments, while unsurprising, raise the rhetorical temperature just as Warsaw prepares to decide whether to reopen Bobrowniki and Kuźnica later this month. Polish officials dismissed the statement as propaganda but reiterated that any reopening depends on security assessments jointly made with Vilnius and Riga.
For businesses the spat highlights persistent volatility on Poland’s eastern flank. Forwarders moving goods between the EU and Eurasian markets should expect ad-hoc checks, longer transit times and sudden rule changes. Companies relocating staff via Minsk must monitor travel-advisory updates, because Poland’s Internal Security Agency (ABW) continues to advise against non-essential travel to Belarus.
From a policy standpoint, Wolfowicz’s remarks strengthen hawkish voices in Warsaw advocating for an EU-level mechanism to co-ordinate internal Schengen border suspensions, so that unilateral actions do not ripple unpredictably through regional supply chains.
Warsaw shut all crossings with Belarus in September after Russian drones violated Polish airspace; two freight gates were briefly reopened in late October but remain closed following Lithuanian pressure. The closures have stranded thousands of lorries and led to a 19 % fall in eastbound freight through Poland’s north-eastern logistics corridor, according to the Association of International Road Carriers in Poland (ZMPD).
Wolfowicz’s comments, while unsurprising, raise the rhetorical temperature just as Warsaw prepares to decide whether to reopen Bobrowniki and Kuźnica later this month. Polish officials dismissed the statement as propaganda but reiterated that any reopening depends on security assessments jointly made with Vilnius and Riga.
For businesses the spat highlights persistent volatility on Poland’s eastern flank. Forwarders moving goods between the EU and Eurasian markets should expect ad-hoc checks, longer transit times and sudden rule changes. Companies relocating staff via Minsk must monitor travel-advisory updates, because Poland’s Internal Security Agency (ABW) continues to advise against non-essential travel to Belarus.
From a policy standpoint, Wolfowicz’s remarks strengthen hawkish voices in Warsaw advocating for an EU-level mechanism to co-ordinate internal Schengen border suspensions, so that unilateral actions do not ripple unpredictably through regional supply chains.
