Poland to Open Border with Belarus in Exchange for Release of Journalist Andrzej Poczobut

Poland is conditioning the opening of border crossings with Belarus on the release of journalist Andrzej Poczobut, who is serving an eight-year sentence in a Belarusian prison. This was stated by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland Radoslaw Sikorski, rmf24 reports.

In an interview, Sikorski, answering a question about the possibility of opening border crossings (there is currently one in Terespol), recalled that the decision to close the Bobrovniki checkpoint was made by the previous Polish government in response to the political process and the imprisonment of Andrzej Poczobut. However, according to the Polish Foreign Minister, "the date of opening depends on the duration of Andrzej Poczobut's captivity".

Sikorski added that "negotiations with the authorities in Minsk are too strong a word". 

"The Belarusian side knows that, for reasons of cultural solidarity, the case of Andrzej Poczobut, a Belarusian citizen but a Pole in terms of culture and identity, is particularly close to us, and we consider the charges against him to be completely groundless," the Polish foreign minister said.

Sikorski noted that the Polish authorities have consistently separated ordinary Belarusians from the authorities in Minsk, as evidenced, in particular, by the fact that Belarusian citizens, unlike Russian citizens, can enter Poland in their own cars (a restriction resulting from EU sanctions).

The minister stressed that Poland is also "fighting together with the entire EU" for all political prisoners remaining in Belarus, and Lukashenko knows that without an end to the repression, "there will be no return to playing with the West".

Regarding the restrictions imposed by Poland at the border on the transport of many goods from Belarus, Sikorski was brief: "There are sanctions and there is war."

The Polish-Belarusian journalist Andrzej Poczobut was not extradited to Poland during the prisoner exchange between Russia and Western countries on 1 August. Instead, Poland handed over a Russian spy for the exchange. Poczobut was detained in 2021 and is currently serving an eight-year sentence in Belarus on charges including "harming" the country's national security. Since then, the release of Poczobut, a Belarusian citizen and human rights activist from the country's Polish ethnic minority, has been high on Warsaw's diplomatic agenda.