Media: Belarus increases border control on exits following alleged partisan attack

A day after the alleged explosions at the Machulishchy airfield near Minsk, Belarusian border guards significantly increased exit control from the country, RFE/RL's Belarusian service reported on Feb. 27, citing several eyewitnesses.

"They checked on the way out, they shook all the things, looked at everything," a Belarusian who crossed the border with Lithuania on Feb. 27 told Radio Svaboda. "Usually when leaving, personal belongings are not checked, the border guards only check passports…The bus driver said he hadn't seen anything like this in at least a year."

Several other people told Radio Svaboda that the border guards strictly checked the belongings of those leaving Belarus for Poland and Lithuania.

Two explosions were heard at the Machulishchy airfield on the morning of Feb. 26, BYPOL, a Belarusian opposition group, reported. A Russian A-50 early warning and control aircraft in Belarus, was damaged, according to the group's leader Aliaksandr Azarov, cited by Nasha Niva.

Azarov said the attack was carried out by Belarusian partisans in the area using two drones as part of BYPOL's so-called "Victory Plan."

On Feb. 27, Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko held a meeting with the country's security forces, calling for the "harshest discipline," monitoring group Belarusian Hajun reported.

Since the launch of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, partisans have been active in Belarus, Ukraine's northern neighbor, sabotaging military, transport, and cyberinfrastructure.

Although Belarus has not officially declared war on Ukraine, Russian forces have been given access to Belarusian territory to launch attacks on Ukraine, including the failed assault on Kyiv in February 2022.

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