Summary:
- Residents in the Polish town of Belovesia near the Belarusian border have reported incidents of border violations by two Belarusian military helicopters.
- The Polish Defense Ministry has confirmed the accounts of border violations, informed NATO, and deployed additional troops to the border.
- Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Murowiecki, along with the Lithuanian president, has raised concerns about the movement of Russian Wagner forces in Belarus towards the Polish border.
- Poland has been experiencing hybrid attacks on the border for two years, and Russia and Belarus are raising pressure with their provocations.
- Belarus has denied airspace violations and accused Poland of fabricating accusations to justify its troop buildup.
- Poland has constructed a 186-kilometer, 5-meter high steel fence topped with razor wire, cameras, thermal vision surveillance equipment, and sensors in response to the migrant crisis.
- Polish officials caution that Wagner mercenary fighters may be disguising themselves as Belarusian border guards and migrants to enter NATO countries.
- The Belarusian government denies provoking the border crisis but admits its troops have assisted migrants in crossing into Poland.
Residents in the Polish town of Belovesia near the Belarusian border have reported incidents of border violations by two Belarusian military helicopters. The Polish Defense Ministry has confirmed these accounts, informed NATO and deployed additional troops to the border. Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Murowiecki, standing alongside the Lithuanian president, has raised concerns about the movement of Russian Wagner forces in Belarus toward the Polish border.
Hybrid Attacks on the Border
On the Polish and Belarusian border, we have been experiencing hybrid attacks for two years. Russia and Belarus are raising pressure along the border with their provocations. Poland has sent additional troops and military helicopters to the border to boost preparedness, says Defense Minister Mateusz Bleszciak. To face the provocation from Belarus, because today we understand that Belarus now is a part of the Russian Empire, so the hybrid attacks on Poland are definitely coordinated with the Kremlin.Belarus Denies Airspace Violations
Belarus has denied airspace violations and accused Poland of making up the accusations to justify its troop buildup. On August 1, Polish residents in Belovesia reported seeing two Belarusian helicopters flying at low altitudes. Mariusz Kurnytah, who volunteers with the local mountain rescue group, Ochotnice Pogotovia Humanitarne, questions why the government only confirmed multiple sightings after they began to appear on social media. Kurnytah says his friend witnessed the helicopters. She was walking her dog in the morning in Bealoviesia. They flew over her head and she took a picture of these helicopters that had stars, the Belorussian insignia. The government keeps saying that radars did not pick them up.Poland's Response to Migrant Crisis
Poland also accuses Russian Belarus of using migrants to destabilize Poland and other EU countries, calling it a form of hybrid warfare. In response, Poland has constructed a 186-kilometer, 5-meter high steel fence topped with razor wire, cameras, thermal vision surveillance equipment and sensors. Mariusz Kurnytah says in the last two years he has helped many migrants who, he says, were sent to cross the border illegally. Belarus is bringing them here and automatically deceives them because they don't have a way to go back. Some of them are beaten, some are forced. On August 3rd, we had 13 Afghans who called for help.Possible Disguises and Denials
Polish officials now caution that Wagner mercenary fighters may be disguising themselves as Belarusian border guards to help migrants cross illegally and posing as migrants to enter NATO countries. The Belarusian government has denied provoking a border crisis but has said its troops have helped migrants cross the border into Poland.Moroslava Konradze, VA News, Belovesia, Poland.