Szymon Szynkowski vel Sęk disclosed the plan in an interview with public broadcaster Polish Radio on Monday.
The newly appointed minister for European affairs told Polish Radio: “Poland is calling on the European Union to take a position on the Belarusian regime’s collaboration with the Russian Federation.”
He added that “the issue cannot be ignored” and that Poland would "raise the topic” at an EU get-together on Tuesday.
EU ministers for European affairs, including Poland’s Szynkowski vel Sęk, are expected to meet in Luxembourg on Tuesday to discuss the escalation of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, among other topics, Polish Radio’s IAR news agency reported.
New EU sanctions against Belarus?
EU leaders are set to threaten Belarus with a fresh round of sanctions over the Alexander Lukashenko regime's continued support for the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
The threat is expected to be issued at the bloc’s upcoming summit, which will be held in Brussels, Belgium, from Thursday to Friday.
According to sources in Brussels, EU leaders will demand that Belarusian authorities stop enabling Russia’s war of aggression by letting the Russian armed forces use Belarusian territory and providing support to Russian forces, PAP reported.
They will go on to state that the Belarusian regime must fully meet its obligations under international law, warning that the EU is ready to impose new sanctions on Belarus, according to PAP.
‘Lukashenko won’t attack Ukraine’: expert
Roman Polko, a retired Polish Army general, on Monday dismissed suggestions that Lukashenko’s troops could enter the war on Russia’s side.
Polko told the PAP news agency: “Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko won’t attack Ukraine,” adding that Lukashenko “doesn’t want to join forces with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has already lost.”
He added that the Belarusian leader was “trying somehow to save his own skin.”
If Lukashenko sent his troops to the front “and Belarusian soldiers began to fall, they could turn on Lukashenko and attack him instead,” Polko stated.
Last Monday, Lukashenko announced that Belarusian troops would be deployed with Russian forces near Ukraine, suggesting a potential further escalation of the war, the Reuters news agency reported.
Days later, the strongman leader ordered a covert mobilisation of troops to fully staff his combat units, according to the independent Belarusian news outlet Nasha Niva, PAP reported.
Monday is day 236 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
(pm/gs)
Source: IAR, PAP, consilium.europa.eu