Изображение: МВДиА Польши
Poland’s Minister of Interior and Administration Marcin Kierwiński confirmed his ministry’s readiness to reopen border crossings with Belarus during the “Piasecki’s Conversation” program on TVN24.
“Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced the opening of two crossings in the Podlaskie Voivodeship within the coming weeks. We are ready for this. We probably would have opened these crossings last week if not for repeated provocations involving Belarusians in Lithuania,” the channel quoted him as saying.
Kierwiński recalled that the issue had been discussed at the level of the prime ministers and interior ministers of Poland and Lithuania.
“I spoke with Minister Kondratovič, and in a gesture of solidarity with Lithuania we postponed this decision,” he said.
It should be noted that on Friday Alyaksandr Lukashenka said that by delaying the reopening of checkpoints and siding with Lithuania, the Polish side had disrupted its agreements with him. Those agreements concerned the reopening of border crossings and the exchange of political prisoner Andrzej Poczobut, as well as Polish citizens accused by the Belarusian side of espionage.
Also on Friday, the Belarusian Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying that Poland and Lithuania could not unilaterally decide to resume the operation of border checkpoints, and that reopening the border required the establishment of dialogue and reliable implementation of existing agreements.