Polish PM promises to fortify shared border with Belarus amid surge in illegal crossings  

May 11, Pozirk. Warsaw is the target of an ongoing hybrid war, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has told journalists, referring to the illegal migration crisis on the Polish-Belarusian border that started three years ago.

He described Belarus as a country with increasingly aggressive intentions towards Poland that keeps facilitating illegal crossings of the Polish border by third-country foreigners.

Tusk made the statement as he visited the Podlaskie voivodeship in northeastern Poland, where he met with servicemen and border guards in the village of Krynki, located less than one kilometer from Belarus.

In June 2023, Warsaw completed the construction of a 206-km long fence at the Polish-Belarusian border and is now planning to upgrade fortifications at its eastern border, which is also the European Union’s frontier, Tusk said, noting that illegal border crossings picked up pace recently.

The safety of all Poles depends on the border guards’ service and the government is planning amendments to existing legislation to support them, he added.

Since the start of 2024, the EU thwarted at least 13,367 illegal border crossings at its shared border with Belarus with 2,248 attempts recorded in the first nine days of May alone and Poland being the major target.

The migration crisis dates back to spring 2021, when Alaksandar Łukašenka, angered by EU sanctions, had indicated that Minsk would not prevent migrants from Africa and Asia from using Belarus as a route to the EU. It escalated in November 2021, with hundreds of migrants storming the Polish border.

The Baltic states and Poland accused Belarusian authorities of creating the trouble, while the latter blamed it on the West.

In August 2023, the interior ministers of Poland and the Baltic States warned that they would close the border with Belarus in response to a surge in illegal migration.

Two days ago, the ByPol association of former Belarusian law enforcers said that Łukašenka’s security services are massing migrants, expecting them to storm the Polish border soon.