Wednesday, September 16, 2020
2,000 Hasidic Jews gather at Ukraine's border where they are barred entry from Belarus
Around 2,000 Hasidic Jews have gathered at Ukraine's border with Belarus where their annual pilgrimage has been barred due to coronavirus restrictions.
Kiev has accused President Alexander Lukashenko of manufacturing the crisis by giving the pilgrims hope that they could cross the frontier in retaliation for Ukraine's support for the recent pro-democracy protests.
Despite Ukraine's strict travel restrictions, the pilgrims are seeking to visit the tomb of Rabbi Nahman, founder of the Breslov branch of Hasidic Judaism, in the central Ukrainian town of Uman this weekend.
A statement from President Volodymyr Zelensky's office this afternoon told Belarus 'to stop creating additional tension on the border' and made pointed references to the 'dubious' August 9 poll that saw Lukashenko re-elected.
It comes after Lukashenko visited Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday to receive military and economic backing worth £1.15 billion, in the face of Western outcry over last month's ballot.
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