Warsaw offered Belarus room for maneuver in exchange for halt to repression – Polish foreign minister

April 13, BPN. Poland offered Belarus to expand its political and economic room for maneuver in exchange for a halt to repression and persecution, but these talks failed, Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau told the Sejm on April 13.

Only democratic change can put an end to reprisals in Belarus, he added.

According to Rau, Poland would not be safe until its neighbors become free and independent. Poland views Belarus as completely dependent on Russia and lacking any democratic legitimacy, he said.

If the Belarusian authorities continue reprisals, keep holding Polish minority activist Andrzej Poczobut (Andrej Pačobut) in jail, and engineer a migrant crisis on the EU border, Poland would push for even more EU sanctions on Belarus and use the full range of measures at its own disposal, he said.