The move was announced by the spokesman for the Polish foreign ministry, Łukasz Jasina, on Thursday, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
Jasina told PAP that the three Polish diplomats Minsk had moved to expel—a Polish Border Guard liaison officer and two employees from the Polish consulate in Grodno—"have already left Belarus."
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 Polish-Belarusian journalist and activist Andrzej Poczobut to eight years in “a maximum security penal colony” in what was widely seen as a politically motivated case.
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.
Minsk also said that the Polish Border Guard’s liaison officer would be asked to leave Belarus.
Moreover, the number of staff at the Polish Consulate General in Grodno, western Belarus, "should be made equal to the number of staff at the Belarusian Consulate General in Białystok," northeastern Poland, the Belarusian foreign ministry said in a statement.
Belarusian defence attaché to be expelled from Poland in retaliation
On Thursday, Jasina confirmed to PAP that the Polish Border Guard liaison officer and two diplomats from the Polish consulate in Grodno had already left Belarus.
The spokesman for the Polish foreign ministry added that “the Belarusian defence attaché will leave Poland shortly,” in retaliation.
On February 18, Anna Michalska, the spokeswoman for the Polish Border Guard agency, confirmed that Polish trucks were no longer allowed to enter Belarus through Lithuania and Latvia, and were now able to do so “only through the Polish-Belarusian border crossing in Kukuryki/Koroszczyn,” the PAP news agency reported.
On February 20, Poland’s Interior Minister Mariusz Kamiński announced that effective from the next day, Poland was limiting freight traffic from Belarus through the Kukuryki-Kozlovishche border crossing, as a retaliatory move.
Under the new rules, freight traffic through Kukuryki-Kozlovishe 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.
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.
Friday is day 366 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP, kresy.pl