{"id":122005,"date":"2025-01-16T15:07:07","date_gmt":"2025-01-16T12:07:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/122005\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T12:05:06","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T12:05:06","slug":"lukasenka-claims-poland-does-not-care-about-pacobut","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/122005\/","title":{"rendered":"\u0141uka\u0161enka claims Poland does not care about Pa\u010dobut"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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January 16, Pozirk<\/em>.<\/strong> Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka has accused Poland of refusing to negotiate the release of Andrej Pa\u010dobut, a journalist and Polish minority activist, who is serving a lengthy prison term after being convicted in what is widely seen as politically-motivated case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs for Pa\u010dobut, there’s nothing to say,\u201d the state-run media outlets quoted him as saying during a visit to Minsk City Technology Park today. \u201cI tell you frankly, they [Poles] abandoned Pa\u010dobut. . . The Poles refused to even talk about Pa\u010dobut. As far as I am informed, Pa\u010dobut doesn’t want to go there [Poland].\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u0141uka\u0161enka also reiterated that he was unwilling to stop illegal migrants from Asia and Africa from traveling through Belarus to the European Union as long as Western sanctions remained in place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLet them close down all [border crossings]. We don’t go there and we don’t supply anything there. . . .They have imposed sanctions against us and we are not fighting against that migration and the people who want to live there and who go there. . . I will not defend them with the noose around my neck,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Polish-Belarusian border security is crucial for Schengen area security and Warsaw does not currently see any indications that it is safe to reopen the border crossings, Polish Interior Minister Tomasz Siemoniak said earlier this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The minister blamed Belarus for its refusal to release Pa\u010dobut and cooperate in investigating last year\u2019s murder of a Polish soldier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Poland continues to suspect Belarusian security agencies of organizing and facilitating illegal migration at the border and has no room for action until Belarus demonstrates goodwill, Siemoniak stressed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Belarus sentenced journalist and Polish minority activist Pa\u010dobut to eight years in prison in February 2023. In response, Warsaw closed down the major border crossing, Bobrowniki (Bierastavica), linking its reopening to Pa\u010dobut’s release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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