Polish President Promised A Tough Response For Lukashenka
- 19.02.2023, 16:50
The Belarusian regime is challenging all the standards.
Polish President Andrzej Duda promised a tough response to the aggressive actions of the Belarusian regime.
He was asked about the closure of the Bobrowniki border crossing, according to onet.pl.
“We have always had honest intentions towards Belarus. We have never persecuted the Belarusian minority in Poland,” President Duda said.
According to him, they persecute Poles living in Belarus, who are Belarusian citizens and consider this country their homeland.
He recalled that a Belarusian court in Hrodna sentenced Polish minority activist and journalist Andrzej Poczobut to a “bizarre” term - eight years in a strict regime colony. According to Duda, Mr Poczobut was tried for "wanting to live in a free country, to be a free citizen of a free country".
“It's just challenging all the standards. In fact, it is the Belarusian regime that persecutes people, tortures them, enslaves its own people and attacks its neighbours. I want to say with all responsibility: it attacks neighbours because we ourselves experienced a hybrid attack on our border, there are video facts that this is no one else but the Belarusian security services pushed migrants from the Middle East to the borderline between our countries and provoked riots,” said the President of Poland.
Andrzej Duda stressed that the Polish-Belarusian border is the border of the European Union and the Schengen Area.
“We have fulfilled our obligations as an EU member state, as a member state of the Schengen Area. Our border guards, with the support of the army, police and other services, defended the border,” he said.
"We have no doubts today, especially in the light of Russian aggression against Ukraine, that this was a kind of test of our border, our resilience, our responsibility to protect the security of Poland and the European Union," the President of Poland added.
“I have no doubt that thanks to our services, thanks to our officers, thanks to our soldiers, we’ve managed to pass this test,” he said with restraint.
“Today we firmly defend our border. We cannot be intimidated,” Andrzej Duda assured.
"Poland has honest and good intentions and wants to live well with its neighbours,” he recalled. “However, if someone shows aggression towards us, they can expect a tough response,” the president said.