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The Republic of Poland and the Republic of Belarus established diplomatic relations on 2 March 1992. Poland was one of the first countries to recognise Belarusian independence. Polish and Belarusian cultures have been tied together for many centuries, and their national languages are fairly closely related. The two countries share some history and are both marked by Slavic heritage, religion, identity, and values.
Cultural relations between the two are quite friendly but diplomatic relations between the two countries are currently very strained. Poland is a member of NATO and the European Union, and has a pro-U.S. stance, whereas Belarus has long been firmly pro-Russia, and as such, relations tend to be similar to Russia–European Union relations. However, in February 2017 some tensions arose between Belarus and Russia over border controls, and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko expressed indignation at Russia's behaviour. This has led to some speculation that Belarus may try to strengthen ties with the West, including with Poland.
Belarus has an Embassy in Warsaw, Consulates General in Gdańsk and Białystok, and a Consulate in Biała Podlaska. Poland has an Embassy in Minsk and Consulates General in Brest and Hrodna.
Wiktar Gaisenak is the Belarusian ambassador in Poland; Tadeusz Pawlak is the Polish ambassador in Belarus.
Belarus and Poland share a common border (~418 km long) which is the European Union external border.
Poles make up 3.9% of the population of Belarus according to the 1999 Belarus Census. There were 48,700 Belarusians living in Poland according to the Polish census of 2002. Both minorities represent autochthonous population of the region and are officially recognised.
A Belarusian Su-27 crashed at a Polish air show in 2009.
Events
In August 2011, the arrest of Ales Bialiatski using information from Poland led to a harsh war of words between the two countries.