{"id":93901,"date":"2024-07-04T12:43:11","date_gmt":"2024-07-04T09:43:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/93901\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T12:05:06","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T12:05:06","slug":"polands-top-diplomat-says-minsk-alone-can-deescalate-tensions-at-shared-border","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/93901\/","title":{"rendered":"Poland\u2019s top diplomat says Minsk alone can deescalate tension at shared border"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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July 4, Pozirk<\/em>.<\/strong> Poland does not intend to close the border with Belarus for passenger traffic, Polish Foreign Minister Rados\u0142aw Sikorski told Radio Zet <\/em>yesterday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Warsaw does not want to complicate the lives of ordinary Poles and Belarusians, he added, noting that authorities in Minsk continue facilitating illegal migration by fully controlling the number of illegal border crossings by third-country foreigners who travel with Russian visas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some months illegal crossings are at zero, spiking up to 400 attempts in other months, he noted, implying the orchestrated nature of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Minsk can secure good-neighborly relations with Poland by releasing jailed journalist Andrzej Poczobut (Andrej Pa\u010dobut) and stopping the facilitation of illegal migration, Sikorski stressed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In February 2023, shortly after Belarus had sentenced Poczobut to eight years in prison in a politically-motivated case, Poland closed the Bobrowniki border crossings indefinitely. Only two checkpoints remain open at the Belarusian-Polish border: Brest for passenger traffic and Kaz\u0142ovi\u010dy for freight traffic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Poland prioritizes its national interests while considering various scenarios of resolving tensions at the shared border with Belarus, Polish Interior Minister Tomasz Siemoniak told Polsat News<\/em> on Wednesday, following Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka\u2019s explicit refusal to help combat illegal migration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The migration crisis at the Belarus-EU border started in spring 2021 after \u0141uka\u0161enka, angered by EU sanctions, had indicated that Minsk would not prevent migrants from Africa and Asia from using Belarus as a route to the EU.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Belarus\u2019 western neighbors call the migration crisis a \u201chybrid attack\u201d orchestrated by Minsk and Moscow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tensions on the border escalated this spring with the spike in illegal border crossings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Polish border guards also recorded over 50 attacks by people trying to cross the border illegally. One of them resulted in the death of Polish soldier Mateusz Sitek, stabbed at the border with Belarus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In mid-June, Warsaw enacted a 90-day border area entry ban and is considering closing all border crossings in response to the surge in illegal migration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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