Warsaw has claimed the Zapad military drills in neighboring Belarus justify the move to block rail freight

Polish-Belarusian border. © Getty Images / NurPhoto / Contributor

Poland’s decision to close its border with Belarus has caused major disruption to a key corridor for rail freight traffic between China and the EU, according to Politico. 

The route affected by the closure normally accounts for approximately €25 billion per year in freight traffic between China and the EU. All cargo is currently blocked, including time-sensitive shipments such as medicine and food.

Warsaw has claimed the closure is “related to the Russian-Belarusian ‘Zapad-2025’ exercises,” held in neighboring Belarus on September 12-16. The Zapad drills were attended by international military delegations, including from the US and India, and are staged by Moscow and Minsk roughly every four years.

The closure compounds existing frictions over tariffs, subsidies, and security concerns that have long pressured EU-China trade ties.

Warsaw described the maneuvers as “very aggressive” and conducted “very close to the Polish border.” Moscow has said the exercises were designed to repel attacks, using lessons from the Ukraine conflict.

Beijing has sought to retain the “flagship project” in China’s cooperation with Poland and the EU. However, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who flew to Warsaw for talks on Monday, could not convince his Polish counterpart, Radoslaw Sikorski, to allow the goods to flow into the EU.

According to Sikorski, a noted Russia hawk, “the logic of trade” was being replaced by “the logic of security,” Politico reported, citing Polish foreign affairs spokesman Pawel Wronski. China, according to Warsaw, made no direct demands to reopen the border.

 

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The European Commission has said it is monitoring the potential fallout from the closure, adding that “it’s too early to go into further detail.” 

Piotr Krawczyk, former head of Poland’s Foreign Intelligence Agency, suggested the US could be backing Warsaw “in not rushing to reopen it,” saying he is “quite sure Washington is more than happy to see the routes closed – at least temporarily.” 

He pointed to Washington’s pressure on the EU to slap extra tariffs on China over its purchases of Russian energy.