2020-08-27 21:13 update: 2020-09-01, 20:10
Deputy Foreign Minister Marcin Przydacz. Photo PAP/Rafał Guz
There is no consent in Poland to Belarusian President Aleksander Lukashenko's unfounded claims about a diplomatic war against Belarus and Poland's plotting to annex Belarus's Grodno region, Deputy Foreign Minister Marcin Przydacz said on Thursday.
Earlier on Thursday, Przydacz discussed the matter with the Belarusian ambassador to Poland.
"There is no consent in Poland to this kind of narrative and such accusations. We are surprised, disappointed and concerned about the words spoken by the Belarusian president," Przydacz wrote on Twitter after talks with the ambassador. "We consider this narrative totally unfounded and based on false and harmful premises. There is no debate about any border shifts in Poland," Przydacz added.
On Thursday, Lukashenko said there "is a diplomatic war against Belarus at the highest level" and that the Grodno region bordering Poland would be taken over by Poland if Belarus were to disintegrate.
At a press conference on Thursday, Przydacz said Lukashenko's accusations were aimed at intimidating Belarusians with "an imaginary external enemy." He also stated that Poland had no hostile intentions towards Belarus, and said that Poland had frequently confirmed its recognition of Belarusian independence and territorial integrity on the international scene and in bilateral relations.
Przydacz said that his talks with the Belarusian ambassador also concerned a humanitarian aid convoy sent to Belarus on Wednesday by Poland's Solidarity Trade Union. According to reports, the convoy has been halted on Belarusian side of the Polish-Belarusian border.
"I told the ambassador that we expect this transport to be allowed into Belarus, so that the donations can reach their recipients," the deputy minister said.
Earlier on Thursday, Solidarity leader Piotr Duda said that the convoy had spent the last 20 hours on the Polish-Belarusian border, and that its driver had been temporarily detained.
Asked about Polish PM Mateusz Morawiecki's earlier appeal on Twitter to Russia to abandon military intervention plans in Belarus, Przydacz said Poland has repeatedly appealed against outside interference in the affairs of countries in its region. (PAP)
