Poland’s Border Guard has requested the Ministry of Defense to deploy more soldiers to its borders with neighboring Belarus, as concerns mount over the potential influx of refugees into the European and NATO-member country.
Additionally, Poland is preparing for any potential threat from the Russian private military company Wagner Group, which has been gradually approaching the borders between the two countries.
On Monday, Poland’s Deputy Interior Minister, Mateusz Faszyk, stated that the Border Guard requested the deployment of an additional one thousand soldiers to the Polish-Belarusian border due to an increase in attempts to cross the borders illegally.
According to Border Guard Commander Tomasz Praga, 19,000 people have attempted to illegally cross Poland’s borders with Belarus this year, compared to 16,000 last year.
“General Praga requested the transfer of one thousand more soldiers to Poland’s borders with Belarus,” Faszyk added.
Poland has constructed a fence equipped with electronic protection on its borders with Belarus. The country has been on high alert along with Lithuania and Latvia since a large number of migrants and refugees began arriving at their borders from Belarus two years ago.
Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, a close ally of Russia, has been accused of engaging in a “hybrid war” by opening migration routes to create instability in the West.
In recent weeks, fighters from the Russian private military company Wagner Group have been observed near the borders. Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has described the group as seeking to destabilize the situation on the eastern flank of NATO.
The increasing presence of Wagner fighters in Belarus has raised the level of alertness on NATO’s eastern flank.
Previously, Morawiecki stated that around 100 Wagner fighters were close to Poland’s borders, particularly in a strategically sensitive area known as the Suwalki Gap.
