Among those released as part of the exchange between Belarus and Poland is a Belarusian citizen who cooperated with Polish intelligence services. This was stated today at a press conference by Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
“Among those released today is Andrzej Poczobut, a writer, journalist, and fighter for the freedom of Belarusians. In addition to him, Father Gaweł was released, as well as a Belarusian who cooperated with Polish intelligence services,” Tusk said. He did not disclose the name of the third released individual at his request.
Belarusian state TV channel STV claims that the third released individual is a Polish citizen Tomasz Beroza. In 2023, he was sentenced to 14 years in prison on espionage charges.
According to Tusk, the exchange fell through several times because “the other side let us down or deliberately backed out of this undertaking at the last moment.”
He stressed that the release of Poczobut and others became possible because Poland was able to offer Belarus and Russia individuals detained on charges of sabotage for the exchange.
“This became possible because important detainees from the perspective of Belarus, Russia, and Kazakhstan were being held in our prisons — citizens detained in Poland. This exchange would not have been possible if our services had not detained these foreign nationals, citizens of third countries, as I have said, Russia and Belarus, at the right moment. Individuals detained in connection with allegations of actions against Romania and Moldova were also needed.
I spoke with the authorities of Moldova and Romania. It was necessary to persuade them to join this exchange. All of this involves very complex issues, but I managed to convince them. In this way, we assembled this group of five people for the exchange, thanks to which Andrzej Poczobut ended up on the Polish side,” the Polish prime minister said.
According to Tusk, securing Poczobut’s release was long and difficult, and one of the latest attempts failed.
“We repeatedly tried to persuade the Belarusian authorities to release Andrzej Poczobut, and if necessary, for some kind of exchange to take place so that Andrzej Poczobut could end up in Poland and, above all, be free. As I have already said, this story was long and had many unexpected turns. It was very difficult to rely on the good faith and reliability of the Belarusian side. It is enough to recall that during one of the last attempts to organize an exchange, at the very last moment, twenty-four hours before the exchange, the Belarusians changed their decision,” Tusk said.
Tusk spoke about Poczobut’s condition after his release — he is in excellent shape but physically and psychologically exhausted. He said that the journalist can count on comprehensive assistance from Poland.
As a reminder, a 5-for-5 exchange took place today. Three Poles and two Moldovans were released by Belarus and Russia. It is known that Belarus handed over journalist Andrzej Poczobut, Carmelite monk Grzegorz Gaweł and a Belarusian who cooperated with Polish intelligence services. Russia extradited two Moldovan intelligence officers to Moldova.
Poland handed over Russian archaeologist Aleksandr Butyagin to Russia. Moldova handed over former intelligence officer Alexandru Balan to Belarus and Russian citizen Nina Popova to Russia.
