Mariusz Kamiński made the statement at a news conference in Warsaw on Thursday, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
The interior minister said that "if the Belarusian regime employs any further measures” against Poland, Polish citizens or the Polish minority in Belarus, "such measures will be met with a tough response.”
On February 9, Poland announced that, “in the interest of national security,” it was suspending traffic at the Polish-Belarusian border crossing in Bobrowniki from February 10 until further notice.
The move was made after a court in Grodno sentenced Poczobut to eight years in “a maximum security penal colony” in what was widely seen as a politically motivated case.
‘A very clear message’
Kamiński told reporters on Thursday that Poland had sent “a very clear message” to Belarus.
He said: “As long as Andrzej Poczobut is imprisoned, the Bobrowniki border crossing will remain closed.”
The Polish interior minister added: “The Belarusian side has absolute clarity on this issue. If Andrzej Poczobut is released tomorrow, the day after tomorrow the Bobrowniki crossing will be reopened.”
Kamiński also stated that Poland "will take “further steps if the regime of Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko continues to crack down on the Polish people."
He declared: “If the Belarusian regime introduces further measures against the Polish state, against Polish citizens, or against our compatriots who are Belarusian citizens, we’ll make a very tough response.”
New sanctions against Belarusian officials
After the Belarusian court jailed Poczobut last month, the Polish interior minister said Warsaw would impose sanctions on more Belarusian officials involved in the Lukashenko regime’s clampdown on the Polish community in Belarus.
On Thursday, Kamiński told reporters that the list of Belarusian individuals to be sanctioned was “essentially ready” and would be “announced in the immediate future,” the PAP news agency reported.
On February 17, the Belarusian foreign ministry notified the Polish chargé d’affaires in Minsk about its response to the closure of the Bobrowniki border crossing by Poland.
The Belarusian authorities said Polish trucks would be able to enter and leave Belarus “through Polish-Belarusian crossings only,” meaning they would not be able to use Belarus’ crossings with Lithuania and Latvia, according to officials.
On February 20, Poland’s Kamiński announced that effective from the next day, Poland would limit freight traffic from Belarus through the Kukuryki-Kozlovichi border crossing as a retaliatory move.
Under the new rules, freight traffic through Kukuryki-Kozlovichi is restricted until further notice to vehicles registered in Poland, other European Union countries and the member states of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), which brings together Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein and Switzerland, according to PAP.
Vehicles registered in other countries, including Belarus, may travel from Poland to Belarus and from Belarus to Poland only via Lithuania and Latvia, news outlets reported.
In addition to Kukuryki-Kozlovichi, there is a functioning Poland-Belarus road crossing in Terespol-Brest, reserved for passenger traffic, which has not seen any restrictions, officials said.
Railway crossings also operate as usual, the PAP news agency reported.
Earlier this month, European lawmakers voted to condemn repression and show trials in Belarus, including the recent sentencing to long jail terms of Poland’s Poczobut and Belarusian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski, as well as several other people.
Poland has been an important refuge for opponents of Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, and Warsaw has become one of Kyiv's most steadfast supporters since Belarus' main ally Russia invaded Ukraine in February last year, the Reuters news agency has reported.
(pm/gs)
Source: IAR, PAP, belsat.eu