News & Events in Belarus
Lukashenko receives report from Belarusian customs chief
MINSK, 15 September (BelTA) – Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko has received a report from Chairman of Belarus’ State Customs Committee Vladimir Orlovsky, BelTA has learned.
“So, what happened at the border? They say you do not want to let motor vehicles through. I don’t know whether it is in one direction or the other. There are queues there. The Poles are acting up, aren’t they? I need a professional assessment. Not a political one but a professional one. What is going on with them? This is the first question. I want an overview of the situation at the border from the customs service,” the head of state said.
The second question concerned law enforcement activities. “It seems that they [a number of neighboring countries] do not cooperate with us, but they play dirty. Drugs, explosives and other things are being moved across the border,” the president stated.
He pointed to the recent cases involving the seizure of drugs and explosives, with the latter allegedly intended for transit to Russia. “But Russia is not a foreign land for us,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.
Thirdly, he asked the customs chief about innovations in the work of customs authorities: “How do we use digitalization, artificial intelligence to work more efficiently at the border?”
“And the prospects. How do you see the prospects in light of the current situation? As a professional [assessment],” the head of state added.
According to the State Customs Committee, customs authorities seized over 1.1 tonnes of drugs and more than 7,700 units of medications containing psychotropic substances in January-August 2025. In July, the customs suppressed a major channel for importing more than 637kg of psychotropic substances from Latvia. During a subsequent international controlled delivery, Russian colleagues discovered an additional 162kg of narcotics and psychotropic substances in Moscow Oblast. The total amount of seized substances amounted to about 800kg. Citizens of Belarus, Lithuania, Russia, and Ukraine involved in organizing the criminal activity were detained.
In April, at the Brest border checkpoint, customs authorities prevented an attempt to smuggle over 580kg of powerful NATO-manufactured explosives from Poland, concealed in the cavities of a minibus. It was noted that 150grams of this explosive is sufficient to completely destroy a vehicle. Previously, customs authorities had not detected this type of explosive. As a result, controls on the import of banned substances have been enhanced.
Regarding queues at the border, the situation remains difficult due to the deliberate actions by the neighboring countries, the State Customs Committee noted. The State Customs Committee is taking measures to create comfortable conditions for citizens queuing to cross the border. Authorities have introduced remote registration for the electronic queue and allow travelers to proceed directly to the checkpoint upon notification, bypassing the waiting area. To ensure comfortable border crossing, work continues on the construction and improvement of waiting areas near the checkpoints.
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