Armed Polish soldiers stand guard against migrants at the base of a five-metre-high metal fence topped with barbed wire along the border with Belarus.
Warsaw has accused its Moscow-allied neighbor of orchestrating the influx of people as part of a Russian-led hybrid war operation that wants Poland to engage more decisively with the EU. There is.
Polish Undersecretary of State for Immigration Maciej Duszczyk said during a visit to the now-closed Porowce border crossing that Belarus was aiming to “destabilize” Poland and the EU “through the weaponization of this migration.” spoke.
Poland assumed the rotating EU presidency this month and has made strengthening Europe’s defenses a top priority for the 27-nation bloc, with the motto “Security, Europe!”.
It is the only member state of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to share borders with both Russia and Ukraine, and sees itself at the forefront of Russia’s attempts to destabilize the West. There is.
The plan is to fortify the eastern flank with ditches, lines of anti-tank hedgehogs, mines and other fortifications to thwart a possible invasion.
Warsaw is seeking EU funding for the project, which is expected to cost more than 2 billion euros ($2 billion).
Poland is one of several countries that has accused Russia of sabotaging its air traffic infrastructure. It also borders the Baltic Sea, where NATO launched a surveillance mission this week after undersea cables were cut in suspected sabotage.
The government said Russia was also responsible for a series of disinformation campaigns aimed at undermining support for Ukraine, as well as a series of cyberattacks in which authorities recorded one incident every two hours last year.
Cyril Brett, a researcher at the Paris-based think tank Institut Jacques Delors, said Warsaw could seek better coordination and more funding to address these issues during his six-month term as EU president. said that it was high.
“Poland is in a cyberspace cold war,” Digital Affairs Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski told reporters in Warsaw on Wednesday, calling it the “most attacked” country in Europe.
– “At risk” –
Of all the means by which Russia’s hybrid military is financed, immigration is perhaps the most prominent, and Warsaw’s response to it the most controversial.
The government accuses Moscow and Minsk of funneling people from Afghanistan, Iraq, Ethiopia and other countries into Poland by plane or bus transport.
The Polish Border Agency announced that it recorded around 30,000 illegal border crossing attempts in 2024.
Thousands of soldiers, cameras and drones were deployed to stop the group from attempting to climb over a metal fence that spanned 186 kilometers (186 kilometers) through vast forestland and cost around 500 million euros.
These efforts have drawn criticism.
In December, Human Rights Watch (HRW) accused Warsaw of deporting people “illegally and sometimes violently”, calling the practice “inhumane” and in violation of EU rules. He said there was.
Often forced by Belarusian guards or pushed back by Polish guards, many are left stranded in the forest “without food or water and in extremely harsh conditions,” HRW said. researcher Lydia Gall told AFP.
“People die there,” she said.
Duszczyk said border guards were rescuing people in need, but acknowledged that guards were turning away people found near the fence who had no intention of applying for asylum in Poland.
He said the majority wanted to move to Germany or other EU countries.
Only one person froze to death on the Polish side in 2024, but the government does not tally the number of deaths that occurred in Belarus.
According to HRW, the Polish civil society organization We Are Monitoring recorded 14 deaths along the border in 2024.
In December, the government adopted a bill temporarily restricting refugee rights and providing legal cover for resistance.
The bill still needs parliamentary approval, but the EU has already said it would not violate EU rules if implemented under “strict conditions”.
Duszczyk also said Warsaw is reviewing EU policies on returns and safe countries of origin to facilitate deportations.
The plan is backed by Italy, the Netherlands and other countries keen to crack down on illegal immigration.
“We are at risk. We need to use good tools,” Duszczyk said.
