Most Poles support severing railway link with Belarus – survey

July 11, Pozirk. About 72 percent of Poles approve of the idea of closing all railway checkpoints at the border with Belarus, found a recent survey, interia.pl reported.

Only 13.2 percent of respondents rejected it, while about 15 percent found it difficult to answer the question.

The Institute of Market and Social Studies interviewed 1,070 respondents from July 5 to 7.

Passenger rail service between Poland and Belarus was suspended in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic and has not been resumed.

Cargos are transported by rail via the Kazłovičy checkpoint handling all freight traffic.

On July 4, the major Polish customs terminal in Małaszewicze stopped processing rail cargo from Belarus for 33 hours.

The Polish Customs Service cited planned measures to protect the European Union from the entry of dangerous goods and substances.

Customs officers reportedly “thoroughly inspected” freight transported from China via Belarus.

RMF quoted an unnamed Polish diplomat as saying that Warsaw signaled to Alaksandar Łukašenka its ability to legally block rail traffic from Belarus.

Poland may consider blocking the cross-border cargo traffic over Minsk’s role in the illegal migration crisis, Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski said earlier.

Politics

Politics

Łatuška: Border closure for cargo traffic would force Minsk to make concessions to Poland

July 10, Pozirk. The Alaksandar Łukašenka regime would be hit hard by the closure of all cargo border crossings by Poland, Pavieł Łatuška, a Warsaw-based Belarusian opposition politician has told Pozirk. Only then it would make concessions, he noted, commenting …

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