BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

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Carrot for Belarus

Polish-Belarus relations have not gained any momentum, and the Polish minority in Belarus is still under the watchful eye of the countr'y authorities while Poland is seen a country acting for the detriment of Belarus on US orders. But the Polish foreign ministry has nevertheless decided that the Polish ambassador to Minsk must return to his post.

The Polish ambassador Tadeusz Pawlak is to return to Minsk after a three month absence, caused by repressions against the Polish minority in Belarus and the accusations levelled against Polish diplomats by Belarus authorities. Aleksander Checko, the spokesman of the Polish foreign ministry , says that the situation of the Polish Union in Belarus has changed to some extent.

'The climate is different for sure, which is one ofm the reasons why the ambassador has to return to Minsk.The other is that there are certain decisions of our EU partners which points that Poland is not the only country which sees the need to have its representative in Belarus.'

However, Marek Bucko, former first secretary of the Polish embassy, who was expelled from his post in Minks by Belarus authorities, thinks that the return of the ambassador is proof of Poland's weaknesses in its foreign policy for the controversial Belarus president Alexander Lukashenko, often described as Europe's last dictator.

'Since the represseions against the Polish minority still continue, then return of Poland's ambassador shows that there is no consistency in Poland's foreign policy towards Belarus, and secondly it is a stab in the back towards all those Polish democratic campaigners in Belarus, who hoped that the Polish foreign ministry would support them in all their endevours.'

Tomasz Sajewicz from Radio Polonia's Belarussian Service argues however, that the decisison of the foreign ministry lies in the interest of Poland, simply to prevent the alienation of Minsk, which would propel it further into Moscow's orbit.

The Polish foreign ministry says that it is vital that Poland should cooperate with the Belarus opposition, which has joined forces and elected a possible rival to Aleksander Lukaszenko in next year's presidential elections. Tomasz Sajewicz says that thanks to the election, people in Belarus may finally shed the illusion of what the Lukashenko regime represents.

It will be interesting to see whether the return of the Polish ambassador to Minsk will improve the relations between Poland and Belarus and change the attitude of its authorities towards the Polish minority.

Source:

http://www.radio.com.pl/polonia/article.asp?tId=28524&j=2

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