Anna Maria Dyner: There are no military contradictions between Belarus and Poland

However, there are a number of unsolved problems and a lot of opportunities in Belarusian-Polish relations.

General thaw in relations between Belarus and the West caused a similar reaction in the Belarusian-Polish relations. The most eloquent evidence of this was the visit of the Polish Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski to Minsk in March this year. However, there are numerous unresolved issues between Belarus and Poland. The most topical are lack of visa facilitation in the frames of small border traffic and the existence of two Polish unions in Belarus – a formal and an informal one. "EuroBelarus" Information Service asked a political scientist, head of the Eastern Europe Programme at the Polish Institute of International Affairs Anna Maria Dyner to share her view on these and some other issues.

- How we can solve the problems that appear between Belarus and Poland?

- The problem of small border traffic can be solved very quickly with only one memorandum, which will be sent from Minsk to Warsaw. It should say that Belarus has ratified the agreement on small border traffic, so let's start our cooperation. It's a mere political decision. As to the Union of Poles in Belarus, it is a very difficult question that counts more than ten years of problems related with property, with the fact that people who acted on behalf of the unregistered Union of Poles have serious problems, with the role of the Union of Poles, the support from the outside. That is, it seems to me that the problem is harder to solve, all the more because this is also a problem between those people who belong to both unions. We don’t know whether people who used to work together will be able to start working together again. Or should we register two unions? But what should be done with the property then? It seems to me that it will be hard to make a decision, but then it will be easier.

- What influence does the membership in different military association have on the Belarusian-Polish relations? Belarus is a member of the CSTO, while Poland is a member of NATO...

- It depends on who and for what purpose would like to use this contradiction. Belarus and Poland have no contradictions in military terms as such.

- Is it possible to improve the cooperation between the countries, for example, through culture and cultural projects, despite the existing problems?

- I think that the relations in the cultural sphere can be developed very well. There are great opportunities for the cooperation between Poland and Belarus in this area. For example, Belarus has a lot of ancient monuments associated with the Poles. They can be restored. We can organize walking tours round castles and churches as well as develop other areas.

- Why hasn’t it been done yet?

- I think the reason for this is political problems.