2/6/19
The government of Belarus is involved in the construction and modernization of roads on the territory of the Olman wetlands located in the Stolin district, Brest region. Environmental experts are ringing the alarm, as the Olman wetlands are some of the largest in Europe. Large-scale construction is inflicting huge damage on the unique ecosystems. The Belarusian authorities believe that the construction of roads in the territory of the Olman wetlands will ease the transportation of timber and sand extracted in quarries from the territory of the protected area. At the same time, an employee of one of the Ukrainian ministries informs Charter97.org on condition of anonymity that the road infrastructure built in Belarus facilitates the access of border guards to places of service and provides an additional opportunity to deploy the Belarusian army's military equipment to the Polessky training area. In addition, the road infrastructure can be used to deliver manpower, weapons and military equipment to the border with Ukraine. During 2014-2017 the Belarusian authorities created a number of approach roads from the rear areas of Belarus and forest roads; their length is about 96 kilometers. Approach roads were paved to the frontier post "Olmany", bordering the village of Perebrody in Dubrovitsky district of Rivne region and to the frontier posts "Mutvitsa", "Khinichev", checkpoint "Selishche", bordering the villages of Drozdyn, Zabolotie and Poznan in Rivne region of Ukraine. The Ukrainian cities of Zhytomyr and Novograd-Volynsky are in close proximity to this sector of the Belarusian-Ukrainian border. Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, is in dangerous proximity. Why have the Belarusian authorities started building the military infrastructure near the Ukrainian border?
