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Poland must reduce Grodno consulate general staff, Belarusian Foreign Ministry says

On February 10, Poland shut down the Bobrowniki border checkpoint, justifying it by security concerns

MINSK, February 17 /TASS/. The staff of the Polish consulate general in Belarus’ Grodno must be reduced and "brought to quantitative parity" with the number of employees of the Belarusian consulate in Belostok, the Belarusian Foreign Ministry said Friday, commenting on the summoning of the Polish charge d’affaires over Warsaw’s shutdown of the Bobrowniki border checkpoint on February 10.

"The Polish diplomat was informed in a civilized manner about Belarus’ reciprocal measures to such anti-humane unilateral decision of Mateusz Morawiecki’s cabinet to shut down traffic through the Bobrowniki checkpoint from the Polish side," the Ministry said. "The staff of the Polish consulate general in Grodno must be brought to quantitative parity with the number of employees of the Belarusian consulate in Belostok."

Minsk also stated that it no longer sees sense in the presence of the Polish Border Guard communications officer.

"The Belarusian side also sees no point in further presence of the Polish Border Guard communications officer on its territory. We gave him a chance, but, instead of building bridges and assisting in resolution of problematic issues, including ones affecting Polish logistics companies, in reality his activity was aimed at the opposite," the statement says.

On February 10, Poland shut down the Bobrowniki border checkpoint, justifying it by security concerns. Belarusian Foreign Ministry and State Border Committee said that the decision to shut down the checkpoint is anti-humane an complicates the already complicated situation on the Belarusian-Polish border, violates the rights of the people of Belarus, Poland and other states, and damages economic activities. Minsk reserved the right to take adequate reciprocal measures and underscored that Belarus is always open for a constructive and mutually respectful dialogue.

There are six checkpoints on the Polish-Belarusian border, four of them shut down by the Polish side. Cargo transport can only enter Poland through the Kukuryki (Kozlovichi) checkpoint, while private cars can only enter through the Terespol (Brest) checkpoint.

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