Poland Covers The Main Border Crossing, Belarus: Disaster

The Berastavitsa - Bobrowniki cross-border checkpoint on the Belarusian - Polish border. (Wikimedia Commons/Rakoon)

JAKARTA - Belarus has condemned the closure of the two countries' main border crossings by Poland until an undetermined deadline, following the decline in bilateral relations between the two countries

The tense relationship between Poland and Belarus was tenser on Wednesday when a Polish journalist was sentenced to eight years in prison by a Belarusian court, in a trial that Warsaw said was politically motivated.

"Due to the important state security interests, I decided to suspend Polish-Dutch border traffic at Bobrowniki from February 10 to further notice," Polish Interior Minister Mariusz Kaminski wrote on Twitter.

Kaminski also said that as a result of the imprisonment of journalist Andrzej Poczo but, he would propose more people related to Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko to be added to the sanctions list.

Bobrowniki, who is more than 200 km (125 miles) northeast of the capital Warsaw, is one of the main crossing points between Poland and Belarus.

Meanwhile, Anton Bychkovsky, spokesman for the Belarusian state border service, said the move was groundless and could trigger a spike in crossings before closing, the Russian TASS news agency reported.

Bychkovsky told Belarus channel MTV, only two of the six main border posts will operate, which he said would harm truck drivers and citizens.

"The Belarusian side does not see any objective reasons for making such a decision, given that there is no threat from the Belarusian territory," he said.

In the aftermath of the decision, Polish Business Authority in Minsk was summoned to the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

On Friday, Minsk denounced Poland's decision to close border checkpoints between the two countries as "disaster", saying it could cause "collapse" on both sides of the border.

"The actions of Polish authorities could cause collapse on both sides of the border," the Belarusian border committee said in a statement shared on social media.

After the closure is imposed, just two of the six main land crossing points along the border between the two countries that span 400 km will open, Belarusian border forces said in a statement.

"With the closure of other Polish checkpoints, the situation will be catastrophic," the Belarusian border forces added, pointing to long queues already at border crossings.

"The burden at the remaining two checkpoints will increase critically," he continued.

Minsk also said it believed the decision was deliberately designed to " further exacerbate the situation at the border and limit people's travel."

Poland has become a major haven for opponents of President Lukashenko. Meanwhile, Warsaw has been one of Ukraine's most loyal allies since Minsk's ally, Russia invaded the country in February last year.

In addition, Russia uses Belarus as its failed launch post of its troops in the capital Kyiv.

Much earlier, Poland and the European Union said Belarus had engineered the migrant crisis at its border in 2021, a charge Minsk denies. Recently, Poland condemned the vandalism of Polish graves in Belarus.

Meanwhile, thousands of Polish people live in Belarus, considering the western part of the country is Polish territory, until the border was redetermined after the Second World War.