Hybrid attack on Poland's eastern border continues, PM says
Mateusz Morawiecki, the Polish prime minister, has said that a hybrid attack on Poland's border with Belarus has been ongoing for two years now.
During his visit to Sutno on the Polish-Belarusian border on Thursday he told a press briefing that only since the beginning of this year there have been over 16,000 attempts by illegal immigrants to enter Poland from Belarus.
"This is no joke, these are not a few illegal attempts to cross this border, this is a planned action by the Belarusian KGB, the Russian FSB... by our Russian and Belarussian enemies, who want to destroy our peace and order," Morawiecki said.
"For over two years Poland has been experiencing an attack, which we call a hybrid attack, on our eastern border," he added.
According to Morawiecki, "this is a clear signal of what would have happened here, on our eastern border, if we had not secured it."
He said that the hybrid attack and artificially induced migration crisis on the border with Belarus was a "prelude" to Russia's war on Ukraine.
"We are dealing with a security crisis caused by Russia...Tens of thousands of migrants were to follow this route to the west, some of them were to stay in Poland," Morawiecki said.
"Poland was to collapse like a house of cards," he said.
Morawiecki also talked about "a new threat that has appeared on the Polish border," referring to the units of the so-called Wagner Group, stationed in Belarus.
"The Wagner group are extremely dangerous mercenaries, merciless and ruthless. They showed in Africa, Ukraine and the Middle East how they behave, what war crimes they commit, what they are capable of doing in the territories where they appear," he said.
According to Morawiecki, if it wasn't for the work of officers and soldiers protecting the Polish border and the measures that the government had taken to strengthen it - "we would have the Wagner Group in Warsaw in two hours."
In 2021, Poland experienced heightened migratory pressure on its border with Belarus with thousands of migrants trying to get into the country. Warsaw blamed the crisis on the Belarusian government, saying it was flying in Middle Eastern and African migrants on the false promise of easy access to the EU.
According to Polish officials, the hybrid attack from Belarus was co-prepared with the Russian secret services.
As a result of the crisis, Poland erected a fence along its border with Belarus and later decided to upgrade it with electronic surveillance equipment, including CCTV cameras and night vision systems. (PAP)
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