Poland closes the border with Belarus on Thursday night. This is simply a consequence to the then-starting Russian maneuvers “Zapad ‘25” involving Belarusian soldiers. Information about the closure of all crossings on the border with Belarus was provided by Prime Minister Donald Tusk, before the Tuesday gathering of the Council of Ministers.
Illustration picture. The closure of the border crossing in Belarus in Bobrowniki. 2023
– As you know, on Friday very aggressive Russian-Belarusian maneuvers begin very close to the Polish border. This has consequences," said Prime Minister Donald Tusk today. The head of government reminded that the goal of the Zapad maneuvers organized by Russia is, among others, Suwalski Pass. “This is the nonsubjective of simulating actions for now”, said Tusk, but he added that Poland is dealing with “an expanding number of provocations from Russia and Belarus”. 1 of them included the fresh arrest of a 27-year-old Polish monk in Belarus. He was accused of allegedly having secret papers on Zapad’25 exercises.
Donald Tusk announced before the Tuesday government gathering that for safety reasons Poland would close all border crossings with Belarus in a fewer days. “With respect to Zapad maneuvers at midnight from Thursday to Friday, we will close the border with Belarus, including rail crossings”, he announced.
It is not yet known how long the border traffic will be halted.
The Russian-Belarusian Zapad maneuvers (ros. West) have been organized since 2009. They're cyclical, all 4 years. They make concern for Western countries, among others, due to their scale, the disciplined scenarios and the number of soldiers involved. Dr Dariusz Materniak, east Policy Expert, described the maneuvers in a commentary for “Polish Armed Forces” as “a form of exerting pressure, especially on Central and east Europe”.
Last week, the government agreed to keep the buffer region at the Polish-Belarusian border until 4 December 2025 at the request of the Minister of the Interior and Administration of Marcin Kierwiński. This, in turn, is an effect, as the head of the Ministry of abroad Affairs explained, of the migration force (considered to be part of hybrid activities) exerted by Minsk as an expression of a broader strategy for weakening the countries of the European Union. According to the latest data from the Border defender from June to August 2025, almost 13.8 1000 attempts to illegally cross the border took place. This increase is up to 83 percent compared to the same period last year.
