Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.
Mateusz Wlodarczyk/NurPhoto through Getty Photographs
Poland on Friday closed one in every of its three present border crossings with Belarus, because the EU member’s prime minister hinted at additional restrictions on account of “rising tensions” with Minsk.
The choice to shut the crossing got here a day after a Belarusian court docket sentenced Polish-Belarusian reporter Andrzej Poczobut to eight years in jail over his crucial reporting on the Moscow-aligned regime in Minsk.
The Bobrowniki border checkpoint was closed at midday native time, leaving solely two crossings with Belarus open.
The Polish inside ministry stated the rationale for closing the checkpoint was “state safety,” and that it’ll stay closed till additional discover.
Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki stated additional closures can’t be dominated out.
“The explanation for that is that there are rising tensions with Belarus and they’re being instrumentalised by the Russians and the Kremlin,” Morawiecki instructed reporters in Brussels.
Following the Poczobut verdict, which Morawiecki known as “inhumane”, Warsaw stated it might broaden the scope of its Belarus sanctions.
Polish Inside Minister Mariusz Kaminski stated “folks chargeable for repressive measures in opposition to Polish folks in Belarus” will likely be added to the present sanctions record.
At loggerheads with the West, Minsk usually singles out Warsaw as a selected risk, and Poland has change into a hub for exiled Belarusians.
We stay in a world the place information and fiction get blurred
In occasions of uncertainty you want journalism you may belief. For 14 free days, you may have entry to a world of in-depth analyses, investigative journalism, high opinions and a variety of options. Journalism strengthens democracy. Make investments sooner or later at present. Thereafter you can be billed R75 per 30 days. You may cancel anytime and when you cancel inside 14 days you will not be billed.
