January 16, Pozirk. Alaksandar Łukašenka has accused Poland of refusing to negotiate the release of Andrej Pačobut, a journalist and Polish minority activist, who is serving a lengthy prison term after being convicted in what is widely seen as politically-motivated case.
“As for Pačobut, there’s nothing to say,” the state-run media outlets quoted him as saying during a visit to Minsk City Technology Park today. “I tell you frankly, they [Poles] abandoned Pačobut. . . The Poles refused to even talk about Pačobut. As far as I am informed, Pačobut doesn’t want to go there [Poland].”
Łukašenka also reiterated that he was unwilling to stop illegal migrants from Asia and Africa from traveling through Belarus to the European Union as long as Western sanctions remained in place.
“Let them close down all [border crossings]. We don’t go there and we don’t supply anything there. . . .They have imposed sanctions against us and we are not fighting against that migration and the people who want to live there and who go there. . . I will not defend them with the noose around my neck,” he said.
The Polish-Belarusian border security is crucial for Schengen area security and Warsaw does not currently see any indications that it is safe to reopen the border crossings, Polish Interior Minister Tomasz Siemoniak said earlier this week.
The minister blamed Belarus for its refusal to release Pačobut and cooperate in investigating last year’s murder of a Polish soldier.
Poland continues to suspect Belarusian security agencies of organizing and facilitating illegal migration at the border and has no room for action until Belarus demonstrates goodwill, Siemoniak stressed.
Belarus sentenced journalist and Polish minority activist Pačobut to eight years in prison in February 2023. In response, Warsaw closed down the major border crossing, Bobrowniki (Bierastavica), linking its reopening to Pačobut’s release.
