Poland will close its eastern border until further notice for trucks with Belarusian and Russian license plates.

This decision of the Polish government was taken after a Belarusian court upheld an earlier decision to imprison a journalist of Polish origin.

According to the rationale behind the ruling on these border restrictions, the decision is necessary to “protect public safety”.

While the ruling does not address the case of imprisoned journalist Andrei Pozobut, Polish Interior Minister Mariusz Kaminski said on Twitter that he would add several hundred Belarusian officials to the sanctions list as a result of the sentence, which he called “very harsh”. “

Poland has also closed some border crossing points with Belarus in the past after the arrest of Pozobut and the expulsion of Polish diplomats from Minsk.

In the past, Minsk has said that Warsaw’s decisions to close border crossings are irrational and dangerous, accusing Warsaw of lengthy delays and non-implementation of bilateral agreements.

Poland has become a key haven for Belarusian dissidents opposed to Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, and Warsaw also stands out as one of Kiev’s staunchest supporters since Belarus’ main ally Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

Poland also accuses Belarus of artificially creating a migration crisis at the border by airlifting people from the Middle East and Africa to Belarus and trying to push them across the border with Poland.

Although the number of migrants crossing the border is less than at the height of the crisis in 2021, a Polish border guard reports dozens of attempts to illegally enter Poland every day.

Source: APE-MPE, Reuters.