Belarus has temporarily banned most of its citizens from leaving

“Freedom has many difficulties and democracy is not perfect, but we have never had to put a wall up to keep our people in.” JFK, Berlin.<p>Obviously this situation in Belarus is a simple legal restriction and not a wall, but I’ve long thought that a sensible constitutional guarantee would be the right to leave the country at any time.

I am from Belarus and I&#x27;ve always been impressed by the story of the Berlin Wall. And it&#x27;s my dream that our wall will fall too. It is impossible to take it anymore...

So here I was wondering, why there is not a single article about this in Russian info-sphere. Apparently these restrictions were in action for quite some time [0].<p>But here we are, making news out of this :)<p>[0] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;gpk.gov.by&#x2F;covid-19&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;gpk.gov.by&#x2F;covid-19&#x2F;</a>

seems like a desperation move. It&#x27;s been a long while since I read &quot;The Dictator&#x27;s Handbook&quot;, but I&#x27;m guessing Lukashenko won&#x27;t be free&#x2F;alive too much longer?

Just like the good old days eh!

&gt; including many foreign residency permit holders<p>Does that mean that people can’t go back to their country of citizenship?

This is an outrage. 9.5 million people held hostage because of a few maniacs in government.<p>Individual liberty is truly a precious thing.

Note that this has been happening since at least May 30th as reported by people working in Poland and Lithuania who had gone to visit their family in Belarus for the weekend.

Incredible – I expect we&#x27;ll soon see an uptick in illegal border crossings?

It&#x27;s much harder to enforce policy on those who leave, compared to enforcing policy on those who enter, is it not? If the reason for the policy was sincerely due to pandemic concerns, couldn&#x27;t they have just stopped people from entering, regardless of nationality?

Great plan, do they want to relive the China-NK relationship as Russia-Belarus? Ha

This is only for ground travel, by plane is not restricted.

So is Belarus going to be the next north korea?

It frustrates me so much how many online comments support this and related developments in Russia and Belarus.

I wonder if this will be the first domino for change in Russia…

When a country has to ban people from leaving, that&#x27;s how you know it&#x27;s time to get the fuck out if you still can.

Worked for the GDR. At least for 40 years.

I still have Russian-American friends who strongly support Putin, even after this. Putin&#x27;s support is what allows Belarus to pull these stunts.

What about dual-citizens?