Today it will be impossible to pass through local checkpoints on the border with Belarus and Russia

The trade war between Russia and Ukraine continued. Tonight Ukraine will close traffic from Russia and Belarus through its local checkpoints. In Kyiv, this step is explained by the rampant African swine fever in these countries. And experts note a strange coincidence of the prohibitive measures with the unfriendly statement of Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev addressed to Ukraine.

Photo: Oleg Kharseev, Kommersant / buy photo

Today, at 20.00 Kyiv time, Ukraine closes traffic through local checkpoints on the borders with Russia and Belarus. The State Border Service of Ukraine reported this this morning. At the same time, pedestrian traffic is maintained. “Until further notice, only people living in border areas can now go through local checkpoints. Vehicles are transported through international and interstate checkpoints,” the press service of the State Border Service of Ukraine told Kommersant.

This means that if previously transport could cross the border with Ukraine at any place where there is a checkpoint, now travel is only possible through large checkpoints equipped with the necessary equipment for control. There are 10 such large points through which transport will now pass on the Belarusian border and 28 on the Russian border.

“These restrictions are being introduced to prevent the introduction of the African swine fever pathogen into Ukraine. Control over the movement of livestock products across the border is now being increased,” the State Border Service said in a statement. The statement has not yet provoked a stir at the border: according to the interactive map of the State Border Service, an average level of congestion is observed at the checkpoint with Belarus “Novaya Guta-Novaya Yarilovichi” and the checkpoint with Russia “Troebortnoye-Bachevsk”.

“We are always ready to accept additional traffic. If we managed the traffic flow during the 2012 European Football Championship, then we can definitely cope with this situation. Moreover, the tourist season has actually ended, and the number of vehicles that passed through international and interstate checkpoints in the summer has decreased,” Miron Sidor, assistant to the head of the Eastern Regional Directorate of the State Border Service for Media Relations, told Kommersant.

The director of the department of veterinary medicine of the State Veterinary and Phytoservice, Alexander Verzhikhovsky, told Kommersant that local checkpoints on the border of Ukraine with Russia and Belarus were closed right now on the initiative of the State Veterinary and Phytoservice. “Unfortunately, in Russia and Belarus the situation with African swine fever is not controlled. And the transfer of traffic exclusively through state checkpoints is done for one purpose: to prevent the introduction of the virus into the territory of Ukraine,” he noted. Mr. Verzhikhovsky found it difficult to predict when the temporary ban on traffic through local checkpoints would be lifted: “Everything will depend on the effectiveness of the measures taken by Russia and Belarus.”

Ukrainian authorities began taking measures to counteract African swine fever in August. In particular, the import of sausages, meat products, meat by-products, ready-made soups and broths, as well as preparations for them from Belarus was prohibited through the Zhytomyr and Chernigov customs. Russia took similar measures, banning the import of pork from August 30, despite the fact that the virus was discovered in Belarus at the beginning of the year. It should be noted that Russia’s introduction of the ban occurred after the arrest of the head of Uralkali, Vladislav Baumgertner, in Minsk.

Experts note that the situation is repeating itself: the closure of the Ukrainian border coincided with the statement by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on September 23 that after Ukraine signed an association agreement with the European Union (scheduled for the end of November in Vilnius), “a special regime, a partnership, that was in force until this will end." “Yes, we will be friends and trade. But this will be trade the same as we conduct with our other partners - without any privileges. On the contrary, perhaps even with restrictions. Let them try (Ukraine - Kommersant) to sell their products to Europe,” said the Russian Prime Minister.

Alexander Chernovalov, Denis Popovich, Kyiv; Sergey Bobok, Kharkov

The border was closed due to the plague