Why tensions have been growing along NATO's eastern border with Belarus
CTV
Poland is deploying thousands of troops to its border with Belarus, calling it a deterrent move as tensions between the two neighbors ratchet up.
Poland is deploying thousands of troops to its border with Belarus, calling it a deterrent move as tensions between the two neighbours ratchet up. Those tensions between Poland -- a NATO and European Union country -- and Belarus, which is Russia's ally in its war on Ukraine, have been building up in recent months on the border. Here is why:
Poland has been backing the Belarusian opposition ever since the 2020 presidential elections, where pro-Russian Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko won a sixth term in a vote that Poland and the wider Western community saw as rigged.
In 2021, Belarus began organizing and pushing thousands of migrants from the Middle East and Africa across the border into Poland. The move is seen by Poland and the EU as planned with the Kremlin and intended to cause instability in Europe. Poland's right-wing government, hostile to the idea of accepting migrants, built a US$400,000 wall that substantially reduced the inflow.
After Russia's Feb. 24, 2022, invasion of Ukraine, Poland condemned the attack and has been supporting Kyiv with military equipment, political backing, and humanitarian aid, including hosting more than 1.2 million refugees. Belarus is on Russia's side in the conflict, and Poland is participating in international economic sanctions on both countries.
Belarusian state officials and pro-government activists have formed a group called the Patriotic Force Command, which Minsk uses as a political tool. In a recent address to the Polish nation the group alleged that Polish politicians are "igniting the fire of war with their actions and rhetoric" and are being "driven by the frenzy of chauvinism."
Meanwhile, officials in Moscow have repeatedly voiced groundless allegations that Poland intends on annexing western regions of Ukraine. Moscow also says it has moved some of its short-range nuclear weapons into Belarus, close to the NATO eastern frontier.
Poland is also concerned over the presence in Belarus of thousands of Russian Wagner mercenaries who were recently said to have taken part in training near the border. Two Russian men were arrested last week in Poland accused of having spread the Wagner group's ideology. More than half of Poles questioned recently by the IBRIS survey centre said they considered the Russian mercenaries in Belarus as a threat.
