Poland adds troops on Belarusian border
WARSAW, Poland — Poland is sending 500 additional soldiers and specialized vehicles to its border with Belarus to strengthen it against increasing migrant pressure that the government says is orchestrated by Belarus and Russia to destabilize the European Union.
“We are dealing with a well-organized action directed from Minsk and Moscow,” Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said at a news conference Monday.
“We will defend Poland’s border with full determination” and prevent migrants from crossing in, Morawiecki said after a meeting with Poland’s interior minister and the head of the Border Guards.
Interior Minister Mariusz Kaminski said 500 more troops and eight vehicles will be sent to the border this week.
EU members Poland and Lithuania are facing increasing migrant pressure on their borders with Belarus, which are part of the bloc’s eastern border. They say it is a “hybrid attack” by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko’s regime in Minsk. It began after Western countries introduced sanctions on Lukashenko’s regime for its oppressive measures against the opposition.
Morawiecki said three migrants, including an Iraqi man, who were found dead Sunday close to the Belarusian border died from hypothermia and exhaustion. Polish border guards also reported seeing the body of a woman on the Belarus side of the border.
Hundreds of Warsaw residents placed candles before the Border Guards headquarters in a sign of mourning.