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The effects of opening two border crossings on the Belarusian border will become visible in the coming weeks and months, Deputy Foreign Minister Marcin Bosacki said on the TVPinfo program “Morning Conversation.”
“The effects of this gesture — obviously a gesture that is good, though not for the Belarusian regime but for the thousands, hundreds of thousands of people who will use these two border crossings, Poles and Polish businesses — the effects of this gesture will be seen in the coming weeks, or perhaps months,” he said.
“I am fully convinced that the economic impact on this region, on Podlasie, will be significant. This is already clear. Whether diplomatic efforts — and not only Polish ones — will also make it possible to achieve a significant political effect, we will see. Polish diplomacy and the Polish state are constantly working on this,” the deputy minister added.
The host of the morning program, Mariusz Piekarski, tried to find out whether the Polish side was counting on the release of Andrzej Poczobut. The deputy minister preferred to avoid a direct answer.
“I’m sorry, but the negotiations currently taking place between the structures of the Polish state, including with the participation of diplomacy, with — let’s call it this way — the other side, must for now remain confidential. But, as I said, I hope there will be results,” Bosacki said.
The deputy minister stated that Alyaksandr Lukashenka was and remains a close political and strategic partner of Vladimir Putin.
“But, as we can see, it is not only Poland that is beginning to engage with Lukashenka or the Belarusian authorities in a game that should, to some extent, reduce tension on our eastern border. Such a game — and this is no secret — is also being conducted by the Americans,” he said.
Mariusz Piekarski questioned whether Lukashenka would turn away from his Moscow ally.
“You know, thanks to these efforts, mainly American and not only American, nearly a hundred political prisoners, including Poles, as you well know, have been released. Will this lead to new rounds of releases? We’ll see. This is undoubtedly part of American diplomacy. It is also the goal of Polish diplomacy. The more unfortunate people who have spent years suffering in Lukashenka’s prisons regain their freedom, the better,” the minister replied.
The host asked whether the newly opened crossings could be closed again if the Belarusian side does not do what is expected of it.
“I don’t want to speculate. But of course, in relations with other states — especially those as unfriendly to us as the Lukashenka regime — everything we do, everything all democratic states do, is conditional. We’ll see what happens, we’ll see how the Belarusian authorities respond to this gesture, which is undeniably beneficial for them. As I already said, we did this so that Poles, Polish businesses, Polish entrepreneurs, and residents of eastern Poland, especially Podlasie, could travel freely and also do business with Belarus. But, as with everything in such relations with a difficult and unfriendly partner, it is a conditional process,” the deputy minister said.