Warsaw outlines steps for Minsk to ease tensions

July 18, Pozirk. Warsaw expects Minsk to take the first step to defuse tension by halting “hybrid attacks at the border,” said Paweł Wroński, spokesman at the Polish foreign ministry.

Minsk can identify the person who stabbed Polish soldier Mateusz Sitek while he was patrolling the border with Belarus on May 28 and must extradite him, he added.

Authorities in Minsk are also aware that they can secure good-neighborly relations with Poland by releasing jailed journalist Andrzej Poczobut (Andrej Pačobut), Wroński said.

He noted certain progress with attempts to cross the border illegally subsiding in the last few weeks, he said.

Yesterday, Polish Interior Minister Tomasz Siemoniak pointed out the same steps for Warsaw to adopt a more pragmatic approach to bilateral relations.

However, Belarusian Foreign Minister Maksim Ryžankoŭ, in an apparent reference to Poczobut, dismissed “certain political demands” as unfounded.

“Even if they need them, they should discuss it rather than press ahead with the language of ultimatums. We will never give in to that,” he said in an interview broadcast by ONT yesterday.

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Belarus FM: Minsk not giving in to Warsaw's blackmail over Chinese transit

July 18, Pozirk. Warsaw uses the transit of Chinese goods to blackmail Minsk, Belarusian Foreign Minister Maksim Ryžankoŭ told the state-run ONT TV channel, commenting on Poland's threats to close the only border crossing handling cargo traffic between both countries. …

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