MINSK, 10 September (BelTA) – Belarusian Minister of Foreign Affairs Maxim Ryzhenkov commented on Poland’s decision to close the border with Belarus as he answered journalists’ questions, BelTA has learned.
The Belarusian foreign minister first highlighted the clear lack of foundation for Poland’s concerns about the Belarusian-Russian military exercise Zapad 2025, the purported reason for closing the border with Belarus. After all, the number of participants from Belarus is about 10,000 servicemen. To reduce the degree of tension, Belarus decided to move the main maneuvers inland, away from the border with the EU, “so that, God forbid, no one would see anything aggressive in the exercises,” the minister emphasized. Moreover, representatives of foreign countries, including NATO, have been invited to observe the exercises.
Meanwhile, near Belarus’ western borders European Union countries are staging war games involving 30,000-40,000 military personnel and a huge amount of weapons and hardware relocated from other European Union countries. “And Poland accuses us of presenting a greater danger for Poland and other countries of the European Union with our own exercise! Either Poland lacks confidence in its own armed forces and believes that this situation is advantageous for Belarus,” the Belarusian minister of foreign affairs noted.
As for the decision of the Polish authorities, there is nothing good in it for ordinary people. “This move is primarily anti-people. It is directed against ordinary people who have planned their trips in advance to visit relatives, loved ones, or for tourism purposes,” Maxim Ryzhenkov said. Thus, the Polish authorities are revealing their true colors to the ordinary citizens of both Belarus and Poland. “What attitude will our citizens now hold towards Poland? What image will the Polish state have?” he said.
According to the minister, earlier in negotiations with the Belarusian side, Polish representatives asked to reduce the degree of anti-Polish sentiment in the media. As can be seen from the current situation, it is impossible to do this through the efforts of the Belarusian side alone. “You are giving our citizens every reason to think this way. This is just the latest example,” the minister said. “There is no need to invent any anti-Polish things. Poland’s actions are devastating to its own image.”
The minister stressed that the decision to close the border has serious economic consequences, primarily for Poland itself. “Our calculations show that nearly 75% of the cargo moving westward across the Belarus-Poland border every month originates from China. This tells you exactly who this decision is also targeting,” he noted. “Here is another example of unfair competition.” According to him, about 400,000 tonnes of cargo are supplied to Poland through Belarus every month, and these are goods and products awaited by local businesses and consumers. “This decision by Tusk [to close the border with Belarus] is also against Polish entrepreneurs and people,” the minister said.
At the same time, the volume of Belarusian goods crossing the Polish border via all means of transport is “a negligible share of Belarus’ annual trade turnover, which is approaching $100 billion.”
That is, the border closure will be far less damaging for Belarus than the Polish side seems to believe. However, the interests of many other states will be affected by this decision to a much greater extent, the foreign minister believes.
“This is a blow against China, Kazakhstan, Russia, Asian countries... And it is a blow to the goods of Western states that also move in that direction, primarily Germany, France, Italy, and the Netherlands. If Poland’s clever idea was to punish Belarus, it has backfired completely: the decision has ended up punishing Poland itself, its partners, and major global powers it will need to engage with in the future,” Maxim Ryzhenkov concluded.
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