Belarusians Barred From Leaving Country Will Be Stopped In Russia

Russian Border Services Chief Vladimir Pronichev has announced that Belarusian citizens barred from leaving the country will not be allowed to use Russian territory for travelling to other countries.

Any Belarusian citizen, who is not allowed to leave his country will be stopped both by Belarusian and Russian border guards on the countries' borders, Pronichev said on April 6.

Several opposition leaders and activists had to use Russian territory to travel to Europe in March after they were barred from leaving their country for the European Union.

The travel ban was imposed by Minsk authorities after Belarus-EU relations worsened last month as the European Union expanded sanctions against figures in the regime of authoritarian Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka.

Minsk responded by asking the EU's ambassador to Belarus and Poland's ambassador to leave the country.

With reporting by BelaPAN