{"id":92949,"date":"2024-06-27T15:06:56","date_gmt":"2024-06-27T12:06:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/92949\/"},"modified":"2026-03-09T20:10:49","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T20:10:49","slug":"polish-interior-minister-says-minsk-timed-attacks-to-ep-election","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/92949\/","title":{"rendered":"Polish interior minister says Minsk timed attacks to EP election"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n (Radio ZET)<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

June 27, Pozirk<\/em>.<\/strong> May\u2019s escalation at the European Union’s border with Belarus might have been timed to the European Parliament election in early June as authorities in Minsk wanted to “sow chaos” ahead of the vote, Polish Interior Minister Tomasz Siemoniak told Radio ZET<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Warsaw\u2019s border area entry ban introduced in mid-June helped decrease illegal border crossings between Belarus and the EU, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The move complicated the activities of human traffickers, he said noting that hundreds of them have been arrested in the last few months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Polish police are training soldiers and border guards to use shields and truncheons to repel intruders, he noted, adding that a deployment of riot police has stepped up border security. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Warsaw is reportedly planning an upgrade of the fence following the death of soldier Mateusz Sitek of a stab wound inflicted at the border. The attack was possible because it takes intruders just 20 seconds to bend bar railings and get through the fence, Siemoniak said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Poland is counting on the EU funding to beef up border security because other member states are also affected by the crisis, the minister said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Illegal border crossings have been reported since spring 2021 after Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka, 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tensions on the EU-Belarus border escalated this spring, with Poland being the primary target.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Belarus\u2019 western neighbors call the migration crisis a \u201chybrid attack\u201d orchestrated by Minsk and Moscow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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