{"id":144227,"date":"2025-06-26T17:35:26","date_gmt":"2025-06-26T14:35:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/144227\/"},"modified":"2026-03-09T20:10:49","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T20:10:49","slug":"bialystok-politician-pushes-for-reopening-border-checkpoints-with-belarus","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/144227\/","title":{"rendered":"Bia\u0142ystok politician pushes for reopening border checkpoints with Belarus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

June 26, Pozirk<\/em>.<\/strong> The Polish People’s Party (PSL) of the local governments’ coalition in the Podlaskie Voivodeship in eastern Poland wants Warsaw to open at least one of the checkpoints at the shared border with Belarus, interia.pl reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cezary Cie\u015blukowski, chairman of the regional council and a PSL member, announced intentions to appeal to the government, prime minister and interior and defense ministries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Warsaw closed down the Bobrowniki border crossing in February 2023, following a lengthy prison sentence passed in Minsk against journalist and Polish minority activist Andrzej Poczobut. It linked its reopening to Poczobut\u2019s release. The checkpoint in Ku\u017anica was closed in 2021 over irregular border crossings by third-country foreigners via Belarus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The checkpoint in Terespol, Lublin Viovodeship, is the only one operating border crossing between Poland and Belarus handling all passenger cross-border traffic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Podlaskie Voivodeship\u2019s entrepreneurs and residents complain that closed border crossings undermine their local economy, Cie\u015blukowski told journalists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Transportation, retail and wholesale trade were affected in particular, the politician noted, suggesting resuming traffic through the Ku\u017anica checkpoint which may benefit from a high-speed highway currently under construction in the region. Ku\u017anica is located close to Hrodna, a Belarusian regional center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Poland may reopen border checkpoints if Minsk modifies its policies towards Warsaw, Polish Interior Minister Tomasz Siemoniak said earlier this year, citing Belarus\u2019 role in illegal migration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That statement referred to the ongoing migration crisis at the border between the European Union and Belarus that started in 2021, when Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka, angered by EU sanctions, had indicated that Minsk would not prevent asylum seekers from Africa and Asia from using Belarus as a route to the EU.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Poland remains the major target of illegal migration. Irregular border crossings exceed 13,700 attempts since January.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Poland suspects Belarusian security agencies of organizing and facilitating illegal migration at the border and had introduced a no-go zone, restricting migrants\u2019 right to apply for asylum at the border with Belarus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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