Poland and Ukraine plan no cooperation with the Belarusian Almaz

21.03.2005.

Richard Kalish, the Interior Minister of Poland, said that he would require that an investigation be conducted to find out if the Polish police invited employees of the Belarusian Almaz, thus acting in breach of his order. At the same time, the head of the Interior Ministry of Ukraine, who was visiting Warsaw then said that Ukrainian police will not cooperate with Almaz.
Answering journalists' questions if the Polish police is permitted to maintain cooperation links with the Belarusian Almaz, Richard Kalish said:
"Already some time ago I issued an order saying any cooperation with the Belarusian services can be brought on only by the need to find criminals".
Mr. Kalish promised he would have it found out who visited Bialystok last week in the capacity of Belarusian special service agents.
Yury Lutsenka, Interior Minister for Ukraine, who was attending the meeting of Interior Ministry heads of the Council of Europe countries in Warsaw, said that "a month ago I could have told you a lot of interesting things about Almaz, but now I am the Interior Minister", reports Radio Liberty.
"Investigation carried out to find those behind the murder of our journalist Georgi Gangadze reveals that our Ukrainian police also have criminals – and we must get rid of them. Given this context, we do not cooperate and have no plans for such cooperation with the Belarusian Almaz, says Lutsenka.