Poland is considering suspending freight transport through Belarus if relations between the countries do not “normalize,” Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Andrzej Szejna said in an interview with Radio Zet on July 22.

Warsaw has long accused Belarus of deliberately pushing migrants into Poland since 2021 to pressure the EU over sanctions. Relations between Poland and Russian ally Belarus have further deteriorated after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

“Poland sets specific conditions for Belarus if it wants to normalize relations, such as ending hybrid attacks, freeing the murderer of a Polish soldier and releasing captured Poles,” Szejna said.

The deputy minister said that if these conditions are not met, Poland can stop transporting goods through Belarus, despite the fact that this would be “an unfavorable decision” for the Polish government.

Poland is seriously considering this decision and Belarus is aware of it, he added.

Szejna also said that Belarus openly cooperates with Russia and is hostile to Ukraine. Therefore, “Polish options for action against such a state are limited.”

One of the conditions for restoring relations with Belarus is the extradition of the migrant who killed a Polish border guard, as Szejna said.

The guard was stabbed with a makeshift spear through the border fence between Poland and Belarus on May 28. The attack was reportedly carried out by a migrant trying to cross the border illegally.

In late June, Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania called on the European Union to build a defensive line along the bloc’s border with Russia and Belarus, to protect the EU from military threats and other damaging actions from Moscow.

The leaders of the four countries, all of which border Russia and three of which border Belarus, drafted a letter to Brussels outlining the scale and cost of the project.

Chinese troops arrive in Belarus for joint exercises

According to the Belarusian Defense Ministry, the exercises are intended to “exchange experience, coordinate Belarusian and Chinese units and lay a foundation for the further development of Belarusian-Chinese relations in the field of joint training of troops.”