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Mateusz Morawiecki, the Prime Minister of Poland, has indicated that further border crossings between Poland and Belarus may be closed.
A warning was issued yesterday following the closure of the significant Bobrowniki crossing in the northeast of Poland by the Polish government, with no indication of when it will reopen.
The closure has been linked to the jailing earlier this week by a court in Belarus of Andrzej Poczobut. A Polish-Belarusian activist and journalist, Poczobut had been charged with “instigating hatred against religious and national groups, and rehabilitating Nazism.”
Poczobut to spend eight years in prison
“We’re not ruling out the closing of other border crossings with Belarus,” Morawiecki said after an EU summit in Brussels on Friday.
The prime minister did not reveal which of the other two border crossings could be closed; however, the Koroszczyn-Kukuryki crossing is the only one that can take cargo, whereas the Terespol crossing is only for people.
One of the busiest transit points between Poland and Belarus is the Bobrowniki crossing, which was a focal point during the 2021 migration crisis. Thousands of people attempted to enter Poland from Belarus during this time.
According to Morawiecki, Poland shut down the Bobrowniki crossing due to increasing tension resulting from the Belarusian authorities’ actions.
On Thursday, Mariusz Kaminski, Poland’s interior minister, tweeted the announcement of the closure of the Polish-Belarusian border crossing in Bobrowniki for reasons of national security.
In response to a resolution passed by the Polish parliament condemning the imprisonment of Poczobut, Kaminski has decided to add more individuals linked to the government of Alexander Lukashenko, the president of Belarus, to the sanctions list.