Poland has imposed new sanctions against 365 Belarusians, including 159 parliamentarians, and announced the closure of the only border crossing with Belarus to trucks registered in that country and Russia.
The only road crossing on the Polish-Belarusian border at Kukuryki will be “suspended indefinitely from 1 June,” the Polish Interior Ministry announced on Monday.
The Belarusians sanctioned by Poland include dozens of judges and local officials, as well as pro-Minsk athletes and journalists. They will all be banned from entering Poland and the Schengen area, and their assets will be frozen, the ministry said.
“These people have promoted the Belarusian regime and participated in legitimising and supporting the repressive policy of the Minsk authorities,” the Polish Foreign Ministry said in an official statement.
The ministry said the decision was in response to “the upholding of the draconian verdict in the case of Andrzej Poczobut,” a Polish-Belarussian journalist sentenced to eight years in prison for criticising the regime of President Alexander Lukashenko.
On Friday, a Belarusian court rejected his appeal and upheld the sentence.
The sanctions are also imposed on “persons responsible for organising illegal immigration to Poland and the Baltic states,” according to the statement.
Poland accuses Belarus, Russia’s main ally, of orchestrating an influx of migrants into Poland, and has erected a steel wall along the border to deter irregular crossings.
