The Russian-Belarusian border is the state border between
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
and
Belarus
Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...
. Prior to 1991, it was the border between the
Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic
The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...
and the
Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic
The Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (BSSR, or Byelorussian SSR; be, Беларуская Савецкая Сацыялістычная Рэспубліка, Bielaruskaja Savieckaja Sacyjalistyčnaja Respublika; russian: Белор ...
. The border formally exists, but is not subject to
customs
Customs is an authority or agency in a country responsible for collecting tariffs and for controlling the flow of goods, including animals, transports, personal effects, and hazardous items, into and out of a country. Traditionally, customs ...
checks or
duty
A duty (from "due" meaning "that which is owing"; fro, deu, did, past participle of ''devoir''; la, debere, debitum, whence "debt") is a commitment or expectation to perform some action in general or if certain circumstances arise. A duty may ...
due to the
Union State
The Union State,; be, Саю́зная дзяржа́ва Расі́і і Белару́сі, Sajuznaja dziaržava Rasii i Bielarusi, links=no. or Union State of Russia and Belarus,; be, Саю́зная дзяржа́ва, Sajuznaja dziar ...
treaty and the
Eurasian Union
The Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU or EEU)EAEU is the acronym used on thorganisation's website However, many media outlets use the acronym EEU. is an economic union of some post-Soviet states located in Eurasia. The Treaty on the Eurasian Econo ...
.
The length of the border is , including of land, of river and of lake.
History
The border between the Republic of Belarus and the Russian Federation was formally formed after the
dissolution of the Soviet Union
The dissolution of the Soviet Union, also negatively connoted as rus, Разва́л Сове́тского Сою́за, r=Razvál Sovétskogo Soyúza, ''Ruining of the Soviet Union''. was the process of internal disintegration within the Sov ...
in December 1991. In May 1995,
Alexander Lukashenko
Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko (as transliterated from Russian language, Russian; also transliterated from Belarusian language, Belarusian as Alyaksand(a)r Ryhoravich Lukashenka;, ; rus, Александр Григорьевич Лука ...
and then-Russian Prime Minister
Viktor Chernomyrdin
Viktor Stepanovich Chernomyrdin (russian: Ви́ктор Степа́нович Черномы́рдин, ; 9 April 19383 November 2010) was a Soviet and Russian politician and businessman. He was the Minister of Gas Industry of the Soviet Unio ...
dug up a symbolic border post in the
Smolensk Oblast
Smolensk Oblast (russian: Смоле́нская о́бласть, ''Smolenskaya oblast''; informal name — ''Smolenschina'' (russian: Смоле́нщина)) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative centre is the city of ...
on the border between the two countries, although the border guard agencies remained stationed in
Pskov
Pskov ( rus, Псков, a=pskov-ru.ogg, p=pskof; see also names in other languages) is a city in northwestern Russia and the administrative center of Pskov Oblast, located about east of the Estonian border, on the Velikaya River. Population ...
and
Smolensk
Smolensk ( rus, Смоленск, p=smɐˈlʲensk, a=smolensk_ru.ogg) is a city and the administrative center of Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located on the Dnieper River, west-southwest of Moscow. First mentioned in 863, it is one of the oldest c ...
, and in
Brest, Belarus
Brest ( be, Брэст / Берасьце, Bieraście, ; russian: Брест, ; uk, Берестя, Berestia; lt, Brasta; pl, Brześć; yi, בריסק, Brisk), formerly Brest-Litovsk (russian: Брест-Литовск, lit=Lithuanian Br ...
there were commandant's offices that carried out operational cover of external borders.
In June 2009, Belarus established customs posts and sent customs officers to the border because of the
Milk War
The Milk War was a trade conflict between Russia and Belarus in June 2009. Russia and Belarus have close relations and the conflict stemmed from Russia allegedly attempting to pay Belarus US$500 million to recognize the independence o ...
. Belarus withdrew the officers and dismantled the posts at the end of the month once the dispute was resolved.
On 1 April 2011 officially, custom control at the border was abolished. In accordance with the agreement, if the Belarusian transport authorities detect irregularities in the controlled parameters of a vehicle, the absence of necessary documents or irregularities in the documents, they issue the driver a notice of the deficiencies identified and advise them on the documents to be obtained before arriving in the territory of the other side. They also advise a carrier on the checkpoints on the other side, considering the route of a carrier, where a carrier must present proof that the discrepancies in controlled parameters of the vehicle have been addressed, and the documents specified in the notice. After receiving such a notice, a carrier must obtain confirmation at the Russian checkpoint that the irregularities have been removed. The vehicle can leave the territory of the Union State only after the carrier presents the notice with the Russian conformation.
In April 2012, the Border Committee of Belarus and Russia held a meeting in
Hrodna
Grodno (russian: Гродно, pl, Grodno; lt, Gardinas) or Hrodna ( be, Гродна ), is a city in western Belarus. The city is located on the Neman River, 300 km (186 mi) from Minsk, about 15 km (9 mi) from the Polish b ...
. At the meeting, Grigory Rapota, state secretary of the Belarusian-Russian Union State, said that 2,857 million Russian roubles had been provided for the project out of the Union State budget. The money was spent, among other things, on the purchase of two helicopters for Belarusian border control units and the further training of Belarusian border guards in Russia.
There is virtually no
border control
Border control refers to measures taken by governments to monitor and regulate the movement of people, animals, and goods across land, air, and maritime borders. While border control is typically associated with international borders, it a ...
when travelling between Russia and Belarus, but since October 2016, document checks and prohibitions against third-country nationals have been instituted by Russia when travelling from Belarus to Russia by road, as it is prohibited by Russian law for third-country national to enter Russia outside border control, and there is no border control on the open border. Visitors are advised by the Polish Embassy in Belarus to enter mainland Russia via Terehova (Latvia)–Burachki or
Senkivka (Ukraine)–Novye Yurkovichi.
Air travel between Belarus and Russia was treated as domestic and did not incur border controls before May 2017 (but there are identity checks as exist for normal domestic air travel in Russia and Belarus), since then, the flights have been treated as international by Russia and a full border check is done on third-country nationals by Russia, though no formal border check aside from a simple identity check is applied on Russian and Belorussian citizens.
On 16 March 2020, Russia decided to close its border with Belarus due to the
coronavirus outbreak.
On July 29, 2020, State Secretary of the Security Council of the Republic of Belarus A.A. Ravkov stated that Belarus will significantly strengthen the operational cover of the state border, “including the border with the Russian Federation as part of studying the situation, tracking persons who cross the state border, including on the green border ”.
On July 31, 2020, additional forces of the FSB border service were pulled to the border from the Russian side, and the Border Directorate of the Russian Federal Security Service for the Smolensk Region received an order to record the data of Belarusian citizens moving in both directions.
Очевидцы: Россия фактически закрыла границу с Беларусью. На трассе М1 — очереди 10 км
/ref>
References
External links
Moscow erects border with Belarus, undermines its links with Ukraine and the Baltics
Belarus Digest
{{DEFAULTSORT:Belarus-Russia border
1991 establishments in Belarus
1991 establishments in Russia
1991 in international relations
Borders of Russia
Internal borders of the Soviet Union
Belarus–Russia relations
Borders of Belarus
International borders