Poland will on June 1 close its border with Belarus to Russian and Belarusian freight vehicles until further notice and impose sanctions targeting 365 Belarusian officials and businessmen and 20 companies with links to Russia.
The move comes after the Belarusian Supreme Court rejected an appeal by journalist and Polish minority leader Andrzej Poczobut against his eight-year prison sentence, a decision Mariusz Kamiński, Poland’s interior minister, described as “draconian”.
In February, a Belarusian court found Poczobut (49) guilty of “intentional actions aimed at inciting hostility and hatred on national, religious and social grounds” in a trial that the Pole’s family were barred from attending. Poczobut refuses to issue a plea for clemency from Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko, arguing that such a move would represent an admission of guilt of what he insists are trumped-up charges.
The long-time journalist with Poland’s Gazeta Wyborcza newspaper was also an active member of the Union of Poles in Belarus (ZPB), a Polish minority group that has been de-legalised by the Belarusian authorities. Poczobut is internationally recognised as a political prisoner.
His detention is the latest in a long line of bitter disputes between Poland and the Lukashenko administration. Poland has for years supported the Belarusian opposition and finances the TV station Belsat, which is critical of the Belarusian government.
The Lukashenko leadership is outraged by Poland’s backing for both the Belarusian opposition and EU sanctions against Belarus in the aftermath of the presidential election in 2020, which many believe was rigged. The Belarusian authorities accused Poland of orchestrating and assisting the protests against the result.
Relations hit rock bottom in 2021 when Belarus withdrew cooperation over migration, refusing to take back any illegal migrants who crossed its border into Poland. The Polish authorities, meanwhile, accuse Belarus of enabling tens of thousands of illegal migrants to attempt to enter Poland since the summer of 2021.
Poland’s present ruling conservative leadership had tried to encourage Belarus to move away from its dependence on Russia prior to the 2020 Belarusian presidential election. However, since Lukashenko came to power, Belarus’ dependence on Russia has grown and he is in support of President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Poland now considers Belarus to be effectively under Russian military control, a view reinforced by Russia’s intended stationing of nuclear weapons in Belarus, which Poland regards as a direct threat to its security.
