BREST, 24 September (BelTA) - Vehicles are beginning to queue up in front of the Brest border checkpoint. BelTA correspondents talked some of those waiting to enter Poland.
Vladislav works as a bus driver. On the eve of Poland's border closure, he was also standing in the queue. That time, he was among the lucky ones who managed to cross the border. But after that came the time of uncertainty: no one had any clarity on when the Polish side would reopen its border checkpoints.
Vladislav works as a bus driver. On the eve of Poland's border closure, he was also standing in the queue. That time, he was among the lucky ones who managed to cross the border. But after that came the time of uncertainty: no one had any clarity on when the Polish side would reopen its border checkpoints.
“You see, they've calmed down and decided they need to reopen [the checkpoints]. Because, I think, they are losing quite a lot by having closed the border. That's about it. But really, closing the border is not a neighborly thing to do,” the man shared his opinion. He arrived at the Brest checkpoint on 24 September at around 21.00. “We picked up passengers at the train station. I don't know what to expect. It might take an hour to get through, or it could take 12 hours. It's hard to say how things will go,” the driver noted.
Andrei, together with friends and colleagues from Grodno, considered several options to get to Warsaw. At first, they planned to take a train through Russia’s Kaliningrad, but later found a more budget-friendly option: a bus through Latvia. They hoped to cross the border quickly, but their expectations were not met: the wait there was two to three days. However, that same day, Andrei’s friends told him they were heading to Brest, since the border was expected to reopen. “We’ve been waiting here since 2 a.m.. They say it will open soon. We’re waiting and hoping,” Andrei added.
Another bus carried Aleksei from Minsk, whose final destination is Spain. He had planned his holiday in advance. “I bought a ticket with transit through Latvia, but then I got a call saying Poland would reopen the border and the bus would change the route. So here I am,” the young man said. He added that he was upset about Poland’s decision to close the border with Belarus. “It’s ordinary people who suffer, no one else but us. It’s hard to reach relatives, loved ones, or even go on holiday. But what can we do? I hope this time we’ll cross the border quickly. I expect to be in Warsaw by morning,” Aleksei said hopefully.
As it was reported earlier, the State Border Committee of Belarus has received an official notification from the Border Guard of the Republic of Poland about the reopening of the checkpoints on the Belarusian-Polish border that were closed almost two weeks ago. The border checkpoints will start operating from 01:00 on 25 September Belarusian time.
Photos by Violetta Yuzhakova/BelTA
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