An increase in the Belarusian military presence along its border with Poland is a deliberate ploy to create anxiety in the EU member state and may be a harbinger of conflict escalation, a Polish general warned on Friday.
"This is a game designed to sow unrest," Gen. Mieczyslaw Gocul commented in an interview with Polish tabloid Fakt, adding that Belarusian activity "probably conceals the goal of escalating the conflict."
Belarus is a close ally of Russia and since 2021 has been deploying a series of interventions along its 400-kilometer (about 250-mile) border with Poland, that Warsaw believes are part of a hybrid war. Poland, a NATO member, said migrants, for example from the Middle East, have been sent over the border as a way of destabilizing the bloc's migration policy. Russia has also located nuclear weapons along the border area.
Poland-based Euroradio reported that Belarusian soldiers are "performing tasks to strengthen the state border." Mechanized units, artillery divisions and specialist drone units have been sent to the site.
Soldiers have been in the Belarusian forest near the border with Poland for some time, Euroradio reported. In recent weeks, they have been visited by the command, which explains that the military is "performing tasks to strengthen the state border."
Euroradio reported that the increased presence of Belarusian troops has also been noted near the border with Ukraine.
"We have nothing to worry about," Gocul said, adding: "The Polish services are perfectly monitoring and have situational awareness of the Polish-Belarusian border, both on the border itself and a little deeper."
