MINSK, 18 March (BelTA) – The Polish diplomacy should come to its senses and return to the policy of mutual respect and brotherhood, Piotr Petrovsky, a political analyst and expert with the Belarusian public association Belaya Rus, told the ONT TV channel, BelTA has learned.
“First of all, Polish diplomacy should mend its ways and return to the path of mutual respect and brotherhood. We have some common history that unites us. However, unfortunately, things are developing in a completely different way,” Piotr Petrovsky said commenting on the events to commemorate the so-called ‘cursed soldiers' that took place in the office of the Brest Forum of Polish Local Initiatives.
In turn, Rector of the Academy of Public Administration under the Aegis of the President of the Republic of Belarus Vyacheslav Danilovich emphasized that such events are absolutely unacceptable for Belarusians. “People who are on the territory of Belarus should respect our history, our historical and cultural values. If this does not happen, such people should not be here,” the historian said.
BelTA reported earlier that on 9 March the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs told Consul of the Consulate General of Poland in Brest Jerzy Timofiejuk to leave the country due to a blatant violation of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. The ministry protested Jerzy Timofiejuk's participation in an unofficial event timed to the “day of the cursed soldiers”. The event took place in Brest on 28 February and involved representatives of non-governmental and youth organizations with ties to Poland. “The ‘cursed soldiers' led by Romuald Rajs committed crimes in places densely populated by the Belarusian national minority and thus positioned themselves on par with German Nazi forces. Memory of the burned-down villages, the hundreds of civilians that were murdered and maimed is sacred for our country,” the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
In turn, the Polish government responded by declaring a diplomat of the Belarusian embassy in Warsaw persona non grata. In response to that, Polish Charge d'Affaires in Belarus Marcin Wojciechowski was summoned to the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on 11 March. The Polish diplomat was told that the presence of the head and a consul of the Consulate General of Poland in Grodno in Belarus was inadvisable due to Poland's excessive, asymmetric, and destructive response to Belarus' legitimate and motivated decision to expel Consul of the Consulate General of Poland in Brest Jerzy Timofiejuk and due to the relevant requests of the Belarusian side being ignored. Belarus' decision stems from articles 23 and 55 of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, the press service said.
