UK troops in Poland as Russian paras go on drills
Paratroopers die in drills on EU border amid fears of attack on Ukraine and an intensifying migrant crisis
A TEAM of Royal Engineers was yesterday sent to help shore-up the Polish border with Belarus as thousands of migrants try to breach the EU frontier.
Sources said Poland sought help with the border barrier and the UK was happy to oblige. One British defence source said: “We’re always there for our friends.”
The EU has accused Alexander Lukashenko, the president of Belarus, of encouraging illegal border crossings to Poland in retaliation for EU sanctions on his government. President Vladimir Putin has also been accused of orchestrating the migrant crisis as part of Moscow’s efforts to destabilise Europe.
A group of 10 Royal Engineers is helping reinforce the border fence on what has been called a “reconnaissance” mission.
The Ministry of Defence said: “A small team of UK Armed Forces personnel have deployed following an agreement with the Polish government to explore how we can provide engineering support to address the ongoing situation at the Belarus border.”
The deployment, which was first announced by Poland’s defence minister, came as Russia dispatched paratroopers to the Belarusian side of the border for snap drills.
Russian soldiers fired into the woods and practised seizing bridgeheads just 12 miles from where hundreds of Syrians, Iraqis and Kurds are camped on the Polish border. Two Russian paratroopers died on the exercise, the defence ministry in Moscow later said.
Poland has so far rejected assistance from Frontex, the EU’S border agency, and Europol, its law-enforcement wing, amid a refusal by the bloc to fund the construction of border fences.
In an effort to tackle the crisis, Warsaw has moved 15,000 troops to the frontier, put up a fence topped with barbed wire and approved the construction of a wall.
David Jones, Tory MP and former Brexit minister, said that the Polish decision to turn to London rather than Brussels for help amounted to giving the EU the “cold shoulder”.
He said: “Poland recognises that the UK has probably got the best Armed Forces and expertise that they need in a time of emergency.
“This highlights the growing gulf between Poland and the EU. It is very obvious that the Poles are aggrieved by the fact that the EU has attempted to push them around on their own constitutional arrangements and they’re clearly giving them the cold shoulder.”
RAF fighters were also scrambled yesterday to escort two Russian nuclear bombers, which approached UK airspace. A UK defence source said the two Russian Tu-160 Blackjacks, which are long-range strategic bomber aircraft, were “intercepted and escorted”.
The United States said it was looking at ways to deal with “efforts by Belarus to use migration as a political weapon”.
Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, said: “I’m not going to preview or get ahead of any possible sanctions but we are looking at various tools that we have. We are in very close consultation with our European allies and partners on this.”
Kamala Harris, the US vice-president, speaking in Paris, said: “On the issue of Belarus and what is happening at the border with Poland, we are very concerned about that and closely paying attention to it.
“And the Lukashenko regime, I believe, is engaged in very troubling activity. It is something that I discussed with President [Emmanuel] Macron. And the eyes of the world and its leaders are watching what is happening there.”
Meanwhile, the US also warned the Kremlin against making a “serious
‘This is about building up forces near the border. It’s hard to find an explanation for that transfer’
‘We’ve seen, in the past, Russia mass forces on Ukraine’s borders, claim some sort of provocation, and then invade’
TWO Russian paratroopers died after their chutes failed yesterday during joint military drills between Minsk and Moscow just miles from the border with the European Union.
The Russian ministry of defence announced the accidental deaths hours after releasing a slickly produced video that showed its troops leaping from planes and running across open fields before launching rounds of machinegun fire in the woods.
The images were a vivid illustration of Vladimir Putin’s support for Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko amid a growing migrant crisis on the Polish border. The joint drills come after Russia flew nuclear-capable bombers over Belarus’s airspace in another show of solidarity and strength. They also follow warnings from the West that Russian could be preparing to invade Ukraine again.
Moscow’s intervention marks a dramatic escalation in the crisis that has seen thousands of Syrians, Iraqis, Yemenis and other nationalities camping at the Belarusian border since the start of the week, in the hope of crossing into Poland.
Mr Lukashenko has promised to “flood” the European Union with migrants in retaliation for sanctions imposed on his regime in response to its crackdown on political dissent at home.
Warsaw has accused Mr Putin, Mr Lukashenko’s sole remaining major backer, of pulling the strings from behind the scenes.
Poland, meanwhile, has moved 15,000 troops to the frontier, put up a fence topped with barbed wire and approved construction of a border wall.
The migrants themselves are stuck in the middle of a stand-off, unwanted either by Belarus or Poland, and forced to survive in bitter temperatures.
Moscow announced after the drills, which took place 12 miles from the Polish border and six miles from Nato member Lithuania, that its 250 paratroopers had now returned to their bases in Russia.
However, fears remain that Moscow is planning to set up a permanent military base in Belarus, something that the Kremlin denies.
A Nato official said yesterday that the defensive alliance was watching the situation closely.
“Nato is vigilant and routinely monitors Russian force movements. It’s important to ensure transparency and avoid any miscalculation,” they said.
Meanwhile, experts have said a massing of Russian troops near the Ukrainian border is “not routine”, indicating Moscow could be preparing for an operation “in the coming months”.
Social media footage and satellite images have shown a large amount of weaponry and military vehicles on the move across Russia recently. The United States has privately warned European allies Moscow could be plotting to invade Ukraine in a rerun of the 2014 operation to annex Crimea.
Dozens of tanks have been shipped across the country to Russia’s west, according to Ruslan Leviev, founder of Russian forensic investigative group Conflict Intelligence Team.
“This is about building up forces near the border,” he said. “It is hard to find an explanation for that transfer.”
The new equipment is believed to belong to various 1st Guards Tank Army units.
“The unit has been sighted well outside the army’s normal areas of operation during a gap in the Russian military’s summer and winter training cycles when Russia does not normally conduct large-scale drills,” according to an analysis from Janes, a global agency for open-source defence intelligence.
“The equipment also appears to be moving mainly around the border with a high degree of secrecy, mainly at night to minimise sightings by the public.”
The European Commission said the build-up of Russian troops near the Ukrainian border is “really very concerning”, and will be discussed next week at a meeting of the 27 EU foreign ministers.
Yesterday, Antony Blinken, the US Secretary of State, said: “We’ve seen, in the past, Russia mass forces on Ukraine’s borders, claim some sort of provocation, and then invade, basically following through on something they were planning all along.”
Washington was looking at “various tools” to deal with Belarus, he added.
The Kremlin dismissed the idea that it was planning to send soldiers into Ukraine.
Mr Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, described recent Russian military activity simply as a response to Western provocations.
That would include the scrambling of a fighter jet to intercept a British reconnaissance aircraft that had to change its course away from Crimea.
“We can’t be indifferent to what is happening. We have to be alert,” Mr Peskov said.