WARSAW (Reuters) – Poland is to shut a key border crossing with Belarus till additional discover, the Polish inside minister stated on Thursday, as relations between Warsaw and Minsk sink to new lows.

The already tense relations between Poland and Belarus have been additional strained on Wednesday when a journalist of Polish origin was sentenced to eight years in jail by a Belarusian court docket in a trial Warsaw says was politically motivated.

“Because of the vital curiosity of state safety, I made a decision to droop till additional discover from 1200 on Feb. 10 this yr visitors on the Polish-Belarusian border crossing in Bobrowniki,” Mariusz Kaminski wrote on Twitter.

Bobrowniki, greater than 200 km northeast of Warsaw, is without doubt one of the fundamental crossing factors between Poland and Belarus.

Kaminski additionally stated that because of the jailing of journalist Andrzej Poczobut he would apply for additional individuals related with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko to be added to sanctions lists.

The Polish cost d’affaires in Minsk has been summoned to the Belarusian overseas ministry, the Polish overseas ministry’s spokesman stated on Thursday.

The Belarusian embassy in Warsaw couldn’t instantly be reached for remark.

Poland has turn out to be a key refuge for opponents to the Lukashenko regime, and Warsaw has turn out to be certainly one of Ukraine’s staunchest allies since Belarusian ally Russia invaded the nation in February final yr.

Russia used Belarus as a staging put up for its failed advance on Kyiv, beginning on Feb. 24.

In 2021, Poland and the European Union stated Minsk had engineered a migrant disaster on its borders, an accusation Belarus denies.

Extra not too long ago, Poland has condemned the vandalism of Polish graves in Belarus.

1000’s of individuals of Polish origin reside in Belarus because the west of the nation was Polish territory till the borders have been redrawn after World Conflict Two.