BelarusandUkraine

“From today, no one from the west or south should set foot in Belarus,” Lukashenko said. “Close every meter of the border.” On July 2, Lukashenko ordered the border closed, but apparently the closing was partial. Next month, Russia and Belarus will hold large-scale crossborder military drills, Belarus’ defense ministry said yesterday. Ukraine’s deputy presidential chief of staff, Roman Mashovets, has called these ‘West-2021’ drills “aggressive in nature.”

In the first half of this year, 115,000 Belarusians entered Ukraine, only 25% the level of the first half of last year, Artem Shevchenko, spokesman for Ukraine’s Internal Affairs Ministry, told reporters yesterday.

“There is no ban…but the volume will probably be reduced.”  Sergei Melnikov, Deputy Director General in Ukraine for the Belarusian Oil Company, added: “This is due to the scheduled repair at the Mazyr refinery, which will start on June 1. There is no political motive either.”

a move expected to end their import into Ukraine. Belarus’ state-owned Minsk Automobile Plant, or MAZ, has been a major supplier of city buses and oversized trucks for mining operations in Ukraine. Ukraine’s Interdepartmental Commission on International Trade said it decided last week to impose the tariff in retaliation for Belarusian barriers on purchases of Ukrainian made vehicles, largely buses.

Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovyi says he will not accept the results of a European Investment Bank tender that awards the contract for 100 buses to MAZ, the Belarus company. “We have no right to finance the regime,” he said, referring to widespread popular resistance to self-appointed ruler Alexander Lukashenko. “We have Ukrainian producers who need support.” Ukraine’s big bus manufacturers are Bogdan, Etalon, and Lviv’s Electron. “Why is this important?” asks Sadovyi. “Ukraine needs 30,000 units of public transport —