MINSK. Aug 29 (Interfax) - Poland is ready to reopen checkpoints on the border with Belarus if Minsk makes concessions, Polish Deputy Interior and Administration Minister Maciej Wasik said.
"If the Lukashenko administration makes concessions, Poland will even be ready to open some of the border checkpoints closed earlier," Wasik said on the TYP Info channel.
This is a matter of cooperation in the migration policy and "ridding of the Wagner Group," he said.
"A meeting of the interior ministers [of Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia held in Warsaw on Monday] demonstrates that we will act together, in a coordinated and unanimous manner. Irrespective of whether an incident happens on the Polish, Latvian or Lithuanian-Russian border, we will react just like our neighbors and friends do," Wasik said.
"If there is no cooperation [between Minsk and Poland], the neighboring countries will close every checkpoint, both motor and rail, and Belarus will be practically isolated from Europe," he said.
The Polowce (Peschatka) and Slawatycze (Domachevo) checkpoints were closed at Poland's initiative in November 2020, followed by the closure of the Kuznica Bialostocka (Bruzgi) checkpoint in November 2021.
On February 10, 2023, Poland stopped motor traffic through the Berestowica (Bobrowniki) checkpoint.
Later, it imposed a full ban on the crossing by trucks registered in Belarus and Russia from the Belarusian territory since June 1 and until further notice.
Currently, there is one checkpoint for passenger traffic (Terespol-Brest) and one for truck traffic (Kukuryki-Kozlovichi) on the Polish-Belarusian border. The latter clears only vehicles registered in the European Union.
Rail border crossings operate without additional restrictions for now.