Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko has approved the decisions on protection of the state border in 2023, BelTA has learned.

At the start of the year the head of state traditionally approves the decision on state border protection. This year two decisions will be signed: on state border protection on the ground and in airspace.

The State Border Committee emphasizes that the main efforts in border protection this year will be focused on the Ukrainian direction, and also in the areas where new external challenges and threats to border security may arise. The main goals are to improve combat readiness of the border service by improving the combat training and supply of units, and to increase the combat capabilities of the maneuver groups, develop of the border service's capacity to identify external threats to border security and improve the state border infrastructure, which includes construction of new protection boundaries and their equipping with the most modern technical means in the most dangerous areas.

According to Chairman of the State Border Committee Anatoly Lappo, the head of state was briefed on border protection in 2022 and the situation in view of the combat operations in the neighboring state - Ukraine. “We had to fully restructure border protection in the southern direction,” the head of the State Border Committee said. According to him, all state border protection tasks set for 2022 were fulfilled.
 
“Tasks for this year are just as important. I think that with our forces and means we will fulfill these tasks and ensure reliable protection of the borders,” he said. “The task is to ensure reliable protection of the state border and to ensure that law-abiding citizens are allowed into our country. Another task is to become a reliable shield against those who come to us with bad intentions.” The State Border Committee has all the necessary forces and means to carry out this task, and new equipment is also being brought in. “If there are new tasks, we will think of new equipment,” the head of the State Border Committee said.  

According to him, tensions on the border persists also because of the situation with refugees. “Some countries are destroyed, people have nowhere to live, they were called to Western European countries, and they will keep coming. This trend was last year, and it will be next year as well. We will have this trend until people without a roof over their heads find one. They should not be promised a golden mountain, then there will be fewer such problems,” said Anatoly Lappo.