Poland will station up to 10,000 troops at its border with Belarus, Warsaw’s Defense Minister Mariusz Błaszczak said Thursday.
“About 10,000 soldiers will be on the border — 4,000 will directly support the Border Guard, 6,000 will be in reserve,” he said while speaking to Polish Radio 1.
Błaszczak said Poland is moving the army closer to the border “to deter the aggressor, so that he does not dare to attack us.” This comes in response to what the minister called multiple “provocations” by Belarus, including the violation of Polish airspace and an increase in attempts to illegally cross the border.
So far this year, there have been more than 19,000 attempts to illegally cross the Polish-Belarusian border, an increase on last year’s total of 16,000. The month of July saw almost 4,000 attempts, the highest number so far this year, according to the Polish Border Guard.
Błaszczak said Poland is not ruling out closing the border, if these “provocations” continue. “Everything that happens in Belarus is coordinated with Russia’s actions,” he added.
Tensions between Warsaw and Minsk have been flaring, sparked by the arrival of Wagner troops in Belarus after the group’s aborted rebellion against Moscow. The move immediately triggered tensions with Belarusian neighbors, prompting Poland to re-station military units to the east of the country, closer to the Belarus frontier.
A further escalation occurred when Poland moved troops to its border after accusing two Belarusian helicopters of breaching its airspace. Belarus denied the charge, but Poland notified NATO and summoned Belarusian representatives to discuss the incident.
Belarus also recently started military drills near its border with Poland and Lithuania, which further ramped up tensions with its neighbors.
