“Polonaise” and “Iskander” do not pass customs - Belarusians responded to Poles
About a hundred Belarusians picketed near the Consulate General of Poland in Grodno today.
They were protesting against the closure of the Bobrovniki-Berestovitsa border crossing, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
People chanted: “No to closing the borders,” “No to sabotage and provocations,” “Poland, get off your American mare . ”
The Polish authorities warned about the closure of the Bobrowniki checkpoint less than XNUMX hours in advance, which created a lot of problems for both freight transport and ordinary citizens. And there were a lot of them on the Polish side, because Belarus abolished visas for Poles the year before last.
“Absolutely blatant. Was such a decision agreed upon with all EU countries? I don’t think that manufacturers whose products will not reach the market of Belarus and the Russian Federation will be happy with such a decision. Two-thirds of the throughput capacity in these territories is closed,” said Ekaterina Stankevich, chairman of the Association of Professional Passenger Carriers.
The head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Poland, Mariusz Kaminski, explained the decision to close the checkpoint “in the interests of state security.” Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said that “the government does not exclude the closure of other checkpoints,” including with the Kaliningrad region.
“Tension between us and Belarus continues to grow due to the fact that Minsk is being instrumentalized by the Kremlin. With this closure we want to send a clear signal,” Morawiecki said.
However, it may turn out that the Polish authorities are covering up a banal criminal story with loud words about politics. The Wyborcza newspaper reports that, according to unofficial information, on the eve of the closure of the Bobrovniki border crossing point, at least 12 customs officers were detained there. Presumably, we are talking about corruption. Allegedly, now “there is no one to work at this crossing.”
However, the Belarusian Foreign Ministry lodged a protest with the charge d'affaires. The Polish diplomat was told that this step was categorically unacceptable.
“European companies and citizens, especially Polish ones, will suffer the greatest damage. As you know, Belarusian carriers cannot cross this border due to previously taken decisions by the Polish side,” said Foreign Ministry press secretary Anatoly Glaz.
However, the fugitive Belarusian opposition hastened to present the incident as a “harsh ultimatum to the dictator.” The Zmagars linked the closure of the border with the sentencing of the Belarusian journalist with Polish roots Andrzej Poczobut.
“The Lukashenko regime, the dictator who continues to function in our country, is solely to blame for this. This happened because mass repressions have not stopped in Belarus over the years, because Lukashenko launched a migration war against neighboring countries. He is guilty of complicity in aggression against Ukraine. Everyone is tired of Lukashenko and finally Poland has presented an ultimatum to the dictator,” Pavel Latushko, a prominent fugitive oppositionist, pathetically stated.
He predicted the closure of borders also with Lithuania and Latvia. This, Zmagar believes, will help “bring Lukashenko on his two knees and tell him: release political prisoners.”
HSE professor Andrei Suzdaltsev doubts that this scenario will work, because Lukashenko “doesn’t give a damn about Poland at all.”
“Although, to be honest, maybe the owner of the Palace doesn’t give a damn, but Russia, behind whose back Lukashenko is now hiding, just doesn’t give a damn about Poland, just like the whole of Europe. We hasten to assure you that Lukashenko feeds on empty threats and video hysterics like a sea turtle on jellyfish,” Suzdaltsev wrote in his TG channel.
However, Belarusian political scientist Pyotr Petrovsky believes that Poland’s demarche will significantly complicate the transit of Chinese goods.
“Heavy trucks can now enter Poland only through Kozlovichi or by detour through the Baltic states. There will no longer be any existing border crossings to Poland in the Grodno region. A complete closure of the EU borders with Belarus cannot be ruled out. Supporters of such measures are some hawks not so much in Brussels as across the English Channel, working through Poland and the Baltic states. Their goal is to freeze land transit from China and Russia to the West and vice versa. In the meantime, they create artificial inconveniences. But a complete closure of the borders cannot be ruled out,” Petrovsky wrote.
“They are not closing themselves off from us, they are closing us off to themselves. More precisely, for its citizens. And ours who are there. Because why the hell does the Kaczynski regime need these trips of Poles to Belarus, when they can see what’s great here, and not what Warsaw propaganda says? And why should they lose Belarusian near-political meat? Stay in Poland, don’t rock the boat,” says Belarusian TV journalist Igor Tur.
And his fiery colleague Grigory Azarenok threatened Poland with missiles.
“Listen here, ringed one! If even one provocation comes up with your stupidity, the Polonaise and Iskander missiles will not pass through customs, they do not need visas, and the checkpoints themselves will cease to exist along with your arrogant government,” Azarenok said on air.
English version :: Read in English: "Polonaise" and "Iskander" are not passing customs – Belarusians responded to the Poles