US, France call on citizens to leave Belarus, Russia ahead of potential offensive in Ukraine.
February 14, 2023.
The United States and France have called on their citizens to leave Russia and Belarus, respectively, both citing the invasion of Russia by Ukraine supported by the Belarusian regime.
These new travel advisories follow concerns that Russia is preparing for a large-scale offensive around the war’s first anniversary on February 24, 2023. The active involvement of Belarus in the invasion is feared.
US citizens advised to depart Russia.
On February 13, 2023, the US Embassy in Moscow called on its citizens residing or traveling in Russia to leave immediately, citing the invasion of Ukraine and “the potential for harassment and the singling out of US citizens for detention by Russian government security officials.”
“Commercial flight options are extremely limited and are often unavailable on short notice. If you wish to depart Russia, you should make independent arrangements as soon as possible,” the embassy said in a statement. “The U.S. Embassy has severe limitations on its ability to assist U.S. citizens to depart the country and transportation options may suddenly become even more limited.”
Since March 2022, the United States has issued a Level 4 travel notice for Russia, already advising its citizens not to travel to the country and to depart from it immediately.
French nationals invited to leave Belarus.
The same day, France issued an urgent travel advisory for its citizens to leave the territory of Belarus.
On February 10, 2023, Poland closed one of its three remaining crossing points with Belarus [against six in 2021 – ed. note] in Bobrowniki. This came a day after a Polish activist and journalist based in Belarus, Andrzej Poczobut, was given an eight-year sentence in a labor camp by a court in Minsk for allegedly threatening national security.
Since June 2, 2021, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has requested that member states tell their operators to “not conduct operations” in the Flight Information Region of Minsk, which covers the whole national territory of Belarus.
This follows the forced diversion of Ryanair flight FR4978 by the Belarus regime on May 23, 2021, leading to the arrest of journalist Roman Protasevich by the KGB, the Belarusian security services.
This notice was further reinforced by national advisory since the beginning of the war. On November 17, 2022, French operators were told not to enter the airspace of Ukraine, Belarus, and Moldova.
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