Boundary news

Belarus moves forward on border agreements with Lithuania and Ukraine

(1 June 2010)

Belarus has moved forward on boundary agreements with both neighbouring Lithuania and Ukraine. On 28 May 2010, the Belarusian Council of the Republic ratified a collection of arrangements related to border management with neighbouring Lithuania. The two states coordinated border crossing regulations, dispute settlement and other border activities in 1995. Belarus and Lithuania also completed an impressive and comprehensive demarcation of their boundary in 2008. This ratification effectively enshrines all of these existing agreements. Just a week prior, on 21 May 2010, Belarus president Aleksander Lukashenko signed an agreement paving the way for demarcation procedures wih neighbouring Ukraine. Officials from both sides will now undertake demarcation of the boundary and begin formalising regulations on other issues of border maintenance and management. It is likely that these arrangements will be formalised in in later agreements, as was the case with Lithuania.

Sources: 'Council of Republic ratifies Belarus-Lithuania state border treaty' BelTA, 28 May 2010; 'Ukraine-Belarus border legalized by Minsk' Ukrainian National News Agency, 21 May 2010.