Polish president mulling Belarus sanctions - Lithuanian president

Polish President Andrzej Duda is considering imposing national sanctions on Belarus, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said on Friday after a telephone conversation with his Polish counterpart.

"The Polish leader said the he is considering imposing national sanctions on Belarus," a communique from the Lithuanian President's Office read, going on to state that Nauseda called in the talk for sanctions "thus showing solidarity with Belarusian civil society."

Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia imposed sanctions on 30 Belarusian state officials including President Alexander Lukashenko. The sanctions apply to people who, according to those countries, were involved in the falsification of election results on August 9 or with the violent putting down of protests.

The presidents of Lithuania and Poland also discussed the situation at the Belarusian border following a Thursday announcement by Lukashenko that he would close his country's borders. According to the communique, the two heads of state "claimed there is no current activities justifying a threat on the part of Belarus, there is no actual decision of Belarus to close the borders."

The Lithuanian President's Office indicated that "the Lithuanian Border Guard is working in the regular regime, traffic on the Lithuanian-Belarusian border is in a normal mode."

Nauseda dismissed Lukashenko's words as a groundless "provocation" and said that "the authorities of some countries simply forget there exists a 'mirror principle' in international relations - borders can be closed on both sides."

The presidents of Poland and Lithuania expressed a common readiness to further encourage EU countries to agree the issue of sanctions for Belarus as quickly as possible at the EU level. They also discussed details of a plan to support democratic processes in Belarus and the need to consolidate the positions of other countries towards this aim.

The two leaders agreed to meet in late November, after parliamentary elections in Lithuania, planned for October 11. During the meeting, they will celebrate the 500th anniversary of the birth of King Sigismund Augustus of Poland.