Poland in Libya

RECENT BORDER INCIDENTS:

Despite the decrease in the number of migrants illegally crossing the Polish-Belarusian border, the Polish forces continue to prevent some attempts to forcibly cross the border by groups of migrants. The groups are now usually smaller in size but some of them are still supervised and coordinated by the Belarusian services which use laser lights and flashlights to distract and provoke.

The use of migrants as weapons by the regime of A. Lukashenko is only an element of a wider plan. The aim is to create divisions among NATO and EU states and societies and deepen them later on.

• 13.12.2021 – a dangerous provocation by Belarusian services and an attempt to forcibly cross the border took place near the border crossing in Połowce, in the vicinity of Czeremcha. Belarusian soldiers behave aggressively, throwing stones towards Polish soldiers, despite the lack of foreigners in the area. Only people dressed in Belarusian services uniforms participated in the event. Additionally, Polish officers and soldiers were blinded with lasers and flashlights in order to prevent identification of the aggressors. Belarusian soldiers withdrew after arrival of  support from Polish soldiers and police. Two hours later, in the same area, near the village Opaka Duża, an attempt to forcibly cross the border by a group of foreigners took place. Lasers, flashlights, stones and a special platform thrown over the fence were used. In the immediate vicinity of the border 18 illegal migrants (11 citizens of Iraq, 4 citizens of India and 3 citizens of Syria) were detained and returned to the state border line.
• 14.12.2021 – 4 foreigners (3 Syrians and 1 Iraqi), who got stuck in the swamps in the area of the artificial lake Siemianówka while attempting to illegally cross the border, have been rescued.
• 15.12.2021 – a group of 40 aggressive foreigners attempted to forcibly cross the border in the vicinity of Czeremcha. They were destroying the border fence, throwing stones at Polish officers and soldiers who were blinded with lasers and flashlights. The aggressors were accompanied by Belarussian soldiers recording the entire event.
• 16.12.2021 – a failed  attempt to forcibly cross the border by a group of 11 foreigners in the vicinity of Dubicze Cerkiewne. Polish services were blinded with lasers and flashlights. The foreigners were throwing stones and used a special platform throw over the border fence. The whole group was retained and returned to the border line. Another group of 9 migrants attempted to cross the border river Świsłocz using a pontoon boat.
• 17.12.2021 – a failed attempt to forcibly cross the border by a group of 32 migrants in the vicinity of Czeremcha.
• 18-19.12.2021 – during the weekend several failed attempts to forcibly cross the border in the vicinity of Czeremcha by different groups of migrants took place. In the same area a Polish citizen who transported 9 illegal migrants by car (8 Syrian citizens and one Turkish) has been detained.

 

To follow up-to-date information on the situation on the Polish-Belarussian border, we encourage you to visit:

• the special website: https://www.gov.pl/web/border;
• a special English-language coverage of the migrant crisis on the Polish-Belarusian border, entitled "Focus on the Border",  lunched by the public broadcaster Radio Poland: https://www.polskieradio.pl/395/9610.

 

DIPLOMATIC ACTIONS UNDERTAKEN BY POLAND’s OFFICIALS

The situation on the Polish-Belarussian border and the hybrid action against Poland has been the subject of the following actions:

• 18 December - Personnel from 32 Engineer Regiment arrived in Poland last week. 140 specialists from UK will be in Poland by the end of December to provide engineering support on the border with Belarus.
• 16 December - PM Mateusz Morawiecki took part in the European Council meeting in Brussels. He said: “the European Council had made it clear that artificially and politically motivated migration movements could pose a severe threat to the security of the entire European Union”. In the same time he underlined  that the political and anti-democratic activities in Belarus, where oppositionists are sentenced to several years in prison, had been condemned.
• 15 December - PM Mateusz Morawiecki, accompanied by dep. FM Marcin Przydacz, participated in the Eastern Partnership summit in Brussels. It’s what he said: “The key topics of the Eastern Partnership summit are reforms and support after the pandemic. Poland donated over 20 million vaccines for these countries to help them deal with pandemic more quickly. The role of Poland was greatly appreciated (…) Not only should we keep the open door to the EU, but our assistance should also be generous so that the focus shifts more and more towards cooperation.”
• 13 December - PM Mateusz Morawiecki participated in the V4+ France summit in Budapest. During the meeting, the V4 leaders and the President Emmanuel Macron  discussed geopolitical situation in Europe. He pointed out that Poland defended the eastern border of the EU and NATO. He added that  we had to  be able to defend our external borders and to prevent people from being smuggled and used as human shields.

The diplomatic actions taken by Poland have been successful – at present, much fewer migrants are arriving in Belarus.

 

20 December 2021