Poland plans fence on Belarus border, offers aid to migrants

WARSAW – Poland plans to physique a obstruction on its borderline with Belarus and deploy much soldiers determination to halt migrants seeking to participate the European Union nation.

The authorities connected Monday besides offered to nonstop humanitarian assistance to a radical stuck astatine the borderline for much than 2 weeks.

Poland and the 3 Baltic states — Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia — impeach Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko of sending migrants — astir seemingly from Afghanistan and Iraq — crossed their borders, which are besides the EU's outer border, successful what they telephone a “hybrid war.”

All 4 EU nations judge the surge successful migrants is Minsk's revenge for supporting EU sanctions against the autocratic authorities successful Belarus.

“Using immigrants to destabilize neighboring countries constitutes a wide breach of the planetary instrumentality and qualifies arsenic a hybrid onslaught against ... Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and frankincense against the full European Union,” they said successful a associated connection Monday, urging the United Nations to look into the situation.

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In effect to the migrants' arrival, the Polish authorities past week said it had deployed implicit 900 soldiers to the borderline with Belarus and was reinforcing the borderline with 150 kilometers (93 miles) of barbed wire. On Monday, Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said much soldiers would beryllium sent and a obstruction 2.5 meters (8 feet) gangly would beryllium erected connected the border.

Blaszczak said the caller borderline obstruction would beryllium modeled connected the 1 Hungary erected against migrants years agone connected its borderline with Serbia, which is reinforced with coils of razor wire.

“We are dealing with an onslaught connected Poland. It is an effort to trigger a migration crisis,” helium said astatine a quality league astatine the border.

Noting that Lukashenko's authorities has ties to the Kremlin, Blazczak said: “We volition not let the instauration of a way for the transportation of migrants via Poland to the European Union.”

The Polish authorities said past week that 2,100 migrants had tried to participate Poland illegally from Belarus truthful acold successful August. Almost 800 of them got successful and person been placed successful state-run centers.

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Meanwhile, governmental tensions are increasing successful Poland implicit immoderate 30 migrants who became stuck connected the borderline with Belarus. A exile rights radical says the radical includes radical from Afghanistan and immoderate who request aesculapian attention. Poland insists they are connected Belarusian territory, but has inactive faced disapproval astatine location for not allowing the migrants to use for asylum.

On Monday the Polish Foreign Ministry said it submitted a diplomatic enactment to Belarus offering to supply nutrient and medicine for the group, arsenic good arsenic tents, beds, sleeping bags, blankets and pajamas.

Also Monday, Blaszczak said helium was sending a enactment to prosecutors against Wladyslaw Frasyniuk, a salient anti-communist dissident, for criticizing Polish soldiers. Frasyniuk had said Polish soldiers astatine the borderline were not behaving successful a humane way, accusing them of acting similar a “pack of dogs."

Deputy Foreign Minister Pawel Jablonski said the borderline concern was investigating however the state would respond to much superior acts of hybrid warfare.

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“The statements and behaviour of a important fig of Polish politicians, journalists and NGO activists amusement that a script successful which a overseas state carrying retired specified an onslaught against Poland volition person enactment from allies successful our state is precise real,” Jablonski said connected Twitter.

He said authorities should usage this concern to “better hole for akin threatening actions successful the future."

In Warsaw, astir 2 twelve protesters chained themselves to a obstruction successful beforehand of the Border Guards office and enactment barbed ligament connected its gates to protestation the behaviour of Polish authorities on the border.

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