Belarus has denounced a “dangerous provocation” at a time of escalating tensions between the two countries, according to AFP, citing Agerpres.
“Recently, several incidents have been revealed in which Polish soldiers have led foreigners to the Belarus border and forced them to pass through a gate intended for animals,” said Belarusian border guards from the country’s KGB on Telegram, an ally of Russia.
“To frighten these people, Polish soldiers have aimed their weapons at refugees and fired shots above their heads,” the border guards continued, stating that “the use of foreign military weapons at the border poses extremely dangerous premises for a border conflict.”
On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland under the pretext that the Poles had carried out a series of sabotage operations against German targets near the border and had fired at Wehrmacht soldiers. Poland intends to deploy 10,000 soldiers
Poland plans to deploy around 10,000 soldiers, as a “deterrence measure,” at its eastern border with Belarus, a Moscow ally, announced Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak last month, cited by AFP.
“There will be around 10,000 soldiers, with 4,000 directly involved in supporting the border police and another 6,000 as reinforcement,” said Mariusz Blaszczak in an interview on Polish radio.
Poland, a NATO member country, has recently warned against threats of provocations from Belarus and potential dangers posed by the Russian mercenary group Wagner, based in Belarus. Warsaw accuses Minsk and Moscow of orchestrating a new wave of migrants into the European Union to destabilize the region.
According to Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, the Polish government seeks “escalation, aggravation of the situation, to show that they have acted correctly by arming and rearming the country,” with the approach of the “legislative elections on October 15 next year” in Poland.
Migrant invasion
According to Polish border guards, 19,000 migrants have attempted to enter Poland since the beginning of this year, compared to 16,000 throughout the year 2022. Only last month, over 4,000 migrants attempted to cross the Polish border, according to them.
Belarus has been accused for several years of facilitating illegal migration to the European Union to create tensions in Poland and neighboring Baltic states. In turn, Minsk assures that these states treat those who attempt to cross the border in a brutal and degrading manner.
After the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, tensions between Belarus and its neighbors have escalated, with Belarusian authorities specifically accusing Warsaw of preparing military provocations.
