Landlocked Belarus sees more borders to the west closed as tensions rise

Lithuania has closed two of its six border crossings into Belarus, as Latvia and Poland bolster their borders with Russia's ally.

Transcript

00:00 Lithuania has closed two of its six checkpoints with Belarus and is considering a complete

00:07 border closure, claiming there's a hybrid threat from the east.

00:10 Vilnius cited the worrying presence of Wagner Group's Russian mercenaries moved to Belarus

00:15 after its mutiny and failed march on Moscow.

00:18 "The main focus is how many of the prisoners are by the wall, because we need the biggest

00:27 number of prisoners to be there.

00:30 That's what we're doing, with our national security services, we're dividing these things

00:35 so that people are not in the administration but by the wall."

00:41 In Warsaw, border security was one of the main issues on the table during the visit

00:45 of Latvian President Edgar Zrinkievic.

00:50 His Polish counterpart Andrzej Duda highlighted the threats of hybrid aggression from Belarus

00:54 and promised to supply military aid to Latvia if needed.

00:59 Poland closed all but one checkpoint with Belarus this year, while Latvia has mobilized

01:04 extra border guards and additional troops to protect its eastern frontier.

01:09 Riga made the decision after thwarting 90 illegal border crossings at the Belarus border

01:14 in 24 hours.

01:17 (whooshing)