MINSK, October 29. /TASS/. There is a need to tighten security on the Belarusian border with Poland, the Baltic states and Ukraine, refraining from building an iron curtain, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said, announcing staff changes on Thursday.

"You did a lot when I said that we needed to close the border. Closing the border does not mean turning it into an iron curtain, no one wants that. The border is an area where people make friends. But you can see that we have been challenged. It has nothing to do with friendship… However, it’s not the people’s fault," the BelTA news agency quoted Lukashenko as saying.

He pointed out that Belarus had always been "a strong barrier against the Poles, Lithuanians, Latvians and even Ukrainians." "We never let anyone and anything pass. What do they want from us?" the Belarusian president said.

He also emphasized the need to strengthen border security due to a rise in coronavirus cases. "You can see that a violent outbreak is taking place in Europe. And our [daily coronavirus] cases are about to hit 1,000," he stressed.