The border authority in Belarus has begun setting up temporary checkpoints at its land borders with Russia to screen arrivals from its neighbor.
The work on installing the checkpoints began Thursday evening, with guards putting up barriers, barricade tape, and spikes on the M1 highway, a major roadway running from Moscow through Smolensk before reaching the border with Belarus.
The new checkpoints have reportedly led to backed-up traffic stretching several kilometers in length.
There has been virtually no border control between Belarus and Russia since 1995. The two countries, which share a 1,200-kilometer border, both allow their citizens to cross the border without a passport, part of a larger effort to deepen ties between the two nations.
