In 2022 alone, Poland took in 70,000 Belarusians

In 2022 alone, Poland received 70,000 Belarusians fleeing the repression of Aliaksandr Lukashenka's regime. They were granted humanitarian visas or international protection. According to pap.pl, this figure was announced by the Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of Poland Maciej Wąsik.

He also stressed that 377 representatives of the regime are included in the Polish sanctions list. They are prosecutors, military officers, sportsmen, officials and members of parliament. They are banned from entering Poland, and those who had bank accounts have had their funds frozen.

Poland is also working to put Belarusian transport companies registered in Poland on the sanctions list. Meanwhile, trucks and trailers registered in Belarus or Russia are stopped at the border.

"The European sanctions will come soon, and we will implement them through a government act, which has already been submitted to the Sejm with independent amendments, to completely close the possibility of Russian and Belarusian transport throughout the European Union. This will be a very important economic step, which will certainly strengthen our transport, because it's quite a big competitor," Wąsik said.

A significant increase in Belarusian emigration occurred after August 2020. In the summer of 2022, more than 50 thousand Belarusians with residence permits were living in Poland. Last year, almost 3 thousand Belarusians received Polish citizenship. And Belarusians continue to flee the Republic of Belarus to foreign countries.