Poland closes border with Belarus to freight traffic from Belarus, Russia

By Jo Harper

WARSAW (AA) – Poland closed its eastern border with Belarus to trucks from both Belarus and Russia on Thursday.

The ban applies to trucks, tractors, trailers, and semi-trailers registered in one of the countries, the Polish news agency PAP reported.

On Monday, the Polish Interior Ministry announced restrictions on freight traffic.

It is widely seen as retaliation for the Belarusian Supreme Court’s recent decision to uphold the conviction of Andrzej Poczobut, a Polish-Belarusian activist who was sentenced to eight years in prison in February for "inciting hatred."

Poczobut, a 50-year-old reporter for the Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza, was sentenced in February.

Soon after the verdict, Warsaw closed the Bobrowniki border crossing, and Minsk retaliated by making border crossings more difficult for Polish trucks. Poland then closed the Kukuryki-Koroszczyn border crossing for trucks from Belarus.

The Polish minority in Belarus numbers around 300,000 people.

In March, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki denounced the 10-year prison sentence handed down to Ales Bialiatski, a veteran Belarusian activist and Nobel laureate.