– Poland deserves support, not a criticism of particular actions,” said political scientist Joerg Forbrig of the German Marshall Fund in Berlin, who analyzed the events on the Polish-Belarusian border in an interview with the Berliner Zeitung daily.
Forbrig referred to German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s telephone conversations with Belarusian leader Alyaksandr Lukashenko. In his view, “any arrangements Berlin makes with Moscow, or in this case Minsk, that are not coordinated with Germany’s eastern partners in the EU are problematic.”
“Historically, it immediately reminds the Poles or the Balts of the Hitler-Stalin pact. German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s calls to Lukashenko were not sufficiently coordinated with her eastern neighbours, and their warnings were ignored.”
In the context of the criticism of Poland in this crisis, Joerg Forbrig said that “first of all it should be emphasized that the Polish government did not create this situation. Accusing it of using this crisis for internal political purposes is questionable, to say the least.”
The interviewee of the “Berliner Zeitung” believes that Poland:
“Not allowing journalists into the border area leaves the narrative primarily to Belarusian propaganda. The photos that we receive come mostly from the Belarusian side of the border and are taken in such a way as to blame the Polish authorities for the crisis, “- said Forbrig.