Poland Ready To Permanently Close Border Traffic With Belarus - Foreign Ministry

WARSAW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 21st February, 2023) Poland is ready to permanently close border traffic with Belarus, Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Pawel Jablonski said on Tuesday, citing alleged security issues.

"If such a need arises, especially motivated by security issues, we are definitely ready. But we will analyze it as events unfold," Jablonski told Polish broadcaster Polskie Radio, when asked whether Warsaw was ready to close the border with Belarus permanently.

At the same time, the deputy minister denied that Poland's recent decision to close the checkpoints had been politically motivated.

"We do not make such decisions solely based on political factors. We understand that there are carriers and goods that can be transported across the border.

And they take advantage of that. But if our analyses show that there is a growing threat to security, then such decisions can be made," Jablonski added.

On February 10, the work of the Bobrowniki checkpoint at the Polish-Belarusian border was suspended at the initiative of Warsaw, which cited "interests of state security." After that, only two working border checkpoints remained between the countries � one for trucks and one for cars.

On Monday, Warsaw notified Minsk that it would also ban the movement of trucks through the last available checkpoint, Kukuryki-Kozlovichi, starting from 7:00 p.m. (18:00 GMT) on February 21, with the exception of trucks registered in the European Union and the European Free Trade Association.