Warsaw`s criticism of controversial UBP convention draws harsh reaction from Minsk :: Charter'97 :: News

A September 6 statement issued by the Polish foreign ministry in connection with a controversial convention of the Union of Belarusian Poles (UBP) drew harsh reaction from Minsk. In its statement, the Polish foreign office said that a UBP convention, which was held in Volkovysk on August 27 and resulted in the election of new leaders regarded as loyal to the Belarusian government, had been organized with support from Belarusian secret services. According to the statement, the convention was held in violation of the organization`s charter, Belarusian laws, a Belarusian-Polish cooperation accord, and European standards of policies with regard to ethnic minorities.

The Polish ministry said that Warsaw would back the association`s leaders who were elected at a convention in March invalidated by the Belarusian authorities and would devise ways of efficient cooperation with the Polish ethnic community.

"The Polish foreign office, making statements about the interests of Belarusian Poles, in fact proceeds with actions aimed at a new split in the Union of Belarusian Poles," Ruslan Yesin, spokesman for the Belarusian foreign ministry, told reporters in Minsk on Thursday.

The Polish ministry`s statement "caused much bewilderment" as the UBP`s latest convention "consolidates" the organization, the Belarusian official stressed. "It is unclear how a governmental agency, moreover that of a foreign country, may recognize or not recognize the leadership of a non-governmental organization in a neighboring country," he noted.

Mr. Yesin criticized the Polish foreign office for attempting to "judge how Belarusian laws are enforced."

"It is important that the Polish side strictly observes Belarusian laws while "devising efficient methods" of providing any assistance to anyone on our territory," the Belarusian ministry`s representative concluded.