Poland’s Policy towards Belarus
Poland’s Policy towards Belarus

Summary/Abstract: In early years of Belarus’s independence Poland’s relations with that country were correct and they were developing fairly intensively. This process was stalled by the coming to power of Alaksandr Lukashenka in 1994. In consecutive years of the Lukashenka presidency, as the internal situation in Belarus was becoming more and more strained, a cooling of mutual relations followed. In 1996, when the European Union and the United States responded to an undemocratic constitutional referendum and to the dissolution of the parliament by the president by imposing, by way of sanctions, an entry ban for Belarusian officials, Poland followed the principle of isolating President Lukashenka and his immediate aides but it kept up contacts with lower-level officials, on the assumption through dialogue and liaison with the Belarusian nomenklatura could encourage positive changes in the political situation in that country. A turning point in Poland’s policy came with the delegalisation, in 2005, of the Union of Poles in Belarus (ZPB); Poland’s Belarus policy became much sterner and the contacts were frozen. Since then Belarusian issues have been of considerable interest to Polish politicians and media.

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