The State Border Guard Service of Ukraine confirmed the temporary suspension of crossing the state border to enter the Republic of Belarus.
According to the agency’s press service, these restrictions do not apply to:
- foreigners traveling with diplomatic and service passports, UN pass (travel documents) or EU travel documents, as well as their family members traveling with them;
- crew members of aircraft, inland water transport vessels, train crews, locomotive crews, conductors of freight cars of international railway traffic;
- foreigners who are close relatives (parents, adoptive parents, children, including adopted children, siblings, grandmothers, grandfathers, grandchildren), spouses who have a permanent or temporary residence permit in the territory of the Republic of Belarus, or citizens of the Republic of Belarus;
- foreigners arriving in the Republic of Belarus on purpose of education in educational institutions of the Republic of Belarus, upon presenting documents by them confirming the purpose of this trip (offer of a place, call in certificate, certificate of education, etc.);
- persons traveling for vaccination against COVID-19.
Persons entering Belarus from countries included in the list of states with the recorded cases of COVID-19 infection, listed on the website of the local Ministry of Health, are required to self-isolate for 7 calendar days. Until the expiration of this period, they are not subject to admission across the state border of Belarus.
Foreigners over 6 years old who do not have a permanent or temporary residence permit in Belarus must have an original or a hard copy of a medical document confirming a negative laboratory test result for COVID-19 infection. Also, such a document can be presented in a soft copy, including in the system Traveling without COVID-19, it must be issued within 3 days before the date of crossing the state border. If a person does not have such a document, he or she will be denied permission to cross the border.
Context. On July 2, Lukashenko stated that he had ordered the border guards to completely close the border with Ukraine. According to him, there was allegedly a flow of weapons from Ukraine to Belarus.
On July 5, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the statements of Belarus on the closure of the borders with Ukraine was in opposition to the facts.
Later, the Belarusian MFA clarified that the closure of the borders with Ukraine did not mean restrictions on Ukrainian business or tourists but was "just" the strengthening of the countries’ borders protection.