The head of the Ministry of Defence, Mariusz Błaszczak, deployed almost a thousand soldiers on the border with Belarus. They are to support Border Guard officers in connection with the inflow of illegal immigrants whom Belarusians are trying to transfer to Poland.

This is a premeditated, large-scale action on the part of Lukashenko

— emphasised the deputy head of the Ministry of Defence Wojciech Skurkiewicz in Polskie Radio24.

According to the services, refugees are being transported by planes from the south to Minsk. They are then transported in an organised way to the border with Poland or Lithuania. These are not individuals who arrive at random. We should remember that the border with Belarus is the border with the European Union, which Poland is responsible for

— he added.

As Skurkiewicz said, „the actions on the border are taken in coordination with Frontex - the agency that is responsible for the EU border, whose headquarters are actually located in Warsaw, so it is nothing unusual.”

What surprises me is the politicians, especially those from the Civic Platform, who are trying to undermine, discredit and criticise these actions. That is absolutely a misunderstanding

— he said.

Lithuania, which shares a border with Belarus, is also struggling with a similar problem.

Tłum. K.J.