Poland’s Border Guard has asked the government to send additional 1,000 soldiers to the country’s border with Belarus amid a “rising migrant pressure,” a senior Polish official said on Monday.
(Bloomberg) — Poland’s Border Guard has asked the government to send additional 1,000 soldiers to the country’s border with Belarus amid a “rising migrant pressure,” a senior Polish official said on Monday.
“There’s been more attacks against the Border Guard and the migrants are led by the Belarusian servicemen,” Deputy Interior Minister Maciej Wasik said at a news conference in Warsaw.
Poland has registered 19,000 illegal attempts to cross its border from Belarus with July recording the highest monthly number since the first major escalation in 2021. The government in Warsaw is accusing Belarus for helping the migrants damage the 5.5-meter high steel and concrete barrier built on the Polish border.
Earlier this month, Wasik called for the “complete isolation” of Belarus as Warsaw deployed more troops to the border in response to what it called an airspace violation by Belarusian helicopters. The move marked a sharp escalation in tension between Poland and its eastern neighbor after the Russian mercenaries from the Wagner group that stage an aborted mutiny decamped to Belarus.
Polish and Baltic authorities have increasingly warned of a mounting security threat, calling for measures to punish Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
–With assistance from Krzysztof Kropidlowski.
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