The tension between Poland and Belarus increases by the minute. So much so that, after 50 immigrants broke the barbed wire to gain access to European soil near the village of Starzyna , the Polish government has made the decision to ask NATO for help due to the danger of the integrity of its borders. The Polish Police have described this irruption and assured that only last Saturday they would have counted more than 223 attempts to enter the country. An unsustainable situation that requires the imminent attention of the European Military Alliance, as quoted by The Guardian today from sources from the Government of Warsaw.
The event occurred late on Saturday near the town of Dubicze Cerkiewne, according to the security forces, who have so far detained 22 members of the group, all of them Iraqi nationals.
The police managed to prevent another attempt near the town of Kolonia Klukowicze, in which an officer was injured by the stones thrown at him by the migrants. Also in the last few hours, four people – two citizens of Georgia, a Syrian national and a Pole – carrying 13 migrants have been arrested.
Apparently and after this escalation of events, Poland will request the convocation of the NATO Council to mediate “concrete measures ” as stated by the minister, Manteusz Morawiecki. It has also said that they can request consultations under article 4 of the Alliance treaty.
What happened is a new episode of the tension prevailing right now on the border, the result, according to the European Union, of a retaliation by the Belarusian authorities against the sanctions issued after last year’s elections in the country, which Brussels considered as fraudulent .
The President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, has denied that he has facilitated the accumulation of migrants at the border as a measure of pressure, as the European authorities accuse him.
Meanwhile, the health situation continues to deteriorate. Hundreds of migrants are spending the night practically in the open amid the low temperatures, protected only by tents, some of them improvised. A total of 11 migrants have died since the beginning of this crisis.
UK accuses Russia of running the crisis
The UK Foreign Minister , Liz Truss, has held the Russian authorities responsible for the situation on the Belarusian border, and has asked the Putin government to “pressure the Belarusian authorities to end the crisis and enter into a dialogue.” .
In a column for the Sunday edition of ‘The Telegraph’, Truss has accused Poland of using the migrant crisis at the border to increase the military presence, arguing that border control does not justify the deployment of 15,000 soldiers.
Since last Monday, thousands of irregular migrants from countries in the Middle East and Africa have tried to cross the border between Belarus and Poland.
Lithuania, Latvia and Poland have been denouncing an avalanche of illegal crossings from Belarus for months and accusing Minsk of orchestrating a migration crisis to destabilize the European Union (EU) in retaliation for sanctions.
Truss has accused Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko of using the border as a tool to “create instability and hold on to power, regardless of the human cost.”
‘The UK will not look the other way. We will remain together with our allies in the region, “said the minister. This Thursday, the British Defense Ministry confirmed that a small group of personnel from the country’s security forces had been deployed to the Belarusian border to help Poland with engineering work.
Violence against Polish forces
The NGO Grupa Granica has received information about attempts by Belarus to force immigrants to use violence against Polish forces. Precisely this Saturday, a Polish soldier died when a service weapon was accidentally fired on the border with Belarus, according to the spokesman for the Polish security forces, Stanislav Zarin.
Very sad news. The soldier died while on duty. My sympathy for his loved ones, “wrote Zarin, while referring to a statement from the brigade to which the soldier belonged.
According to the statement from the brigade, no third parties were involved in the accident.
Since last Monday, thousands of irregular migrants from countries in the Middle East and Africa have tried to cross the border between Belarus and Poland, where the Polish Army has deployed about 15,000 soldiers.
