Poland to re-open border crossings with Belarus, PM says
Poland will re-open its border crossings with Belarus which have been shut since September 12, Prime Minister Donald Tusk has said.
Poland shut the crossings as Belarus and Russia embarked on their major military exercises 'Zapad' from September 12 to 16, citing security concerns.
"I would like to inform you about a decision made together with the minister of interior and administration, who will issue today, in a moment, a relevant directive about the re-opening of border crossings, road and railway ones, which have been closed in connection with the 'Zapad' manoeuvres and - understandably - the growing threat and political and actual instability at our borders, in our region," Tusk said at a press conference before a cabinet meeting on Tuesday.
Tusk explained that the crossings will be re-opened from Thursday.
However, Poland reserves the right to reverse the decision, he added.
"If there is such a need, if the tension or aggressive behaviour from our neighbours increase, we will not hesitate and will make a decision to close the crossings again," he warned.
Later in the day, Interior Minister Marcin Kierwinski announced on the X platform that he had already signed a directive to this effect.
"I have just signed a directive which will restore traffic at Poland's border crossings with Belarus at midnight on Wednesday," Kierwinski wrote.
On Tuesday evening, the directive was published in the Journal of Laws. It envisages the opening of the Terespol-Brest border crossing for passenger vehicles, the Kukuryki-Kozlovichi crossing for heavy goods vehicles and three railway border crossings designated for freight transport.
Earlier on Tuesday, a co-leader of Poland’s right-wing Confederation party, Krzysztof Bosak, accused the government for what he claimed to be 1,000 Polish trucks trapped in Belarus due to the border closure, a figure which contrasts with official estimates.
"The Polish government closed the border in such a way that over 1,000 lorries registered in Poland and driving for companies registered in Poland..., have been strangled in Belarus without any possibility of leaving," the politician told a press conference in Warsaw on Tuesday.
Bosak's estimate of the number of trucks remaining in Belarus amid Poland's enforced border closures with the country is much higher than that of the government. This week, a spokesperson for the Minister of Internal Affairs and Administration, Karolina Galecka, told PAP that according to the body's estimates, around 130 lorries are stuck in Belarus. She added that all claims about over 1,000 such Poland-registered vehicles are "repeating the Belarusian disinformation."
Meanwhile, already on Monday, Marcin Kierwinski, the interior minister, announced that the recently placed restrictions on the Polish-Belarusian border crossings would be lifted as soon as possible. On September 12, the day the border closure came into force, he said the border ban would be over as soon as "we are sure that the Poles' security is guaranteed and no provocations are threatening us."
Kierwinski said that the Belarus-Russia four-day "Zapad-2025" military drills, which began on September 12, prompted Poland to close its border with Belarus, with the timing of the decision coinciding with the exercises. Warsaw defended the move, citing security concerns, announcing the border closure three days before it took effect. (PAP)
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