MINSK, 30 April (BelTA) – Lithuania and Poland plan to discuss the possibility of raising the level of political dialogue with Belarus. The relevant statement has been made by Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė, Lithuanian mass media write.
According to Ingrida Šimonytė, there are plans to discuss the possibility of resuming political cooperation with Minsk at a higher level at a meeting with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk in June.
Donald Tusk earlier commented on the exchange of detained persons that took place at the Belarusian-Polish border on 28 April. “We have finally achieved what we wanted. It became possible because our prisons held prisoners who were important for Belarus, Russia, and Kazakhstan,” Rzeczpospolita quoted the Polish prime minister as saying.
U.S. Special Envoy for Belarus John Coale said after the exchange that he and his team had facilitated “the release of three Poles and two Moldovans”. John Coale thanked the Belarusian leader Aleksandr Lukashenko “for his readiness to engage constructively with the United States.”
A five-for-five swap between security services took place at the Belarusian-Polish border on 28 April. The Belarusian intelligence officers Aleksandr Balan and Vladislav Nadeiko as well as two citizens of the Russian Federation (the archaeologist Alexander Butyagin and Nina Popova) were returned from the Polish territory. Those handed over to the other side included Andrei Pochobut (aka Andrzej Poczobut), the Polish citizens Grzegorz Gawel and Tomasz Beroza. Specialists describe the swap process as unique. The final stage took place at the state border line between Poland and Belarus. One side was represented by the State Security Committee of the Republic of Belarus (KGB), the other by the Foreign Intelligence Agency and the Internal Security Agency of Poland. It was a complex and lengthy process. It lasted about a year. KGB officers acted upon instructions from Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko. The head of state personally conducted negotiations with the leaders of the interested countries.
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