"We are certain that people from Belarusian territory are being driven to Belarus Border Guard stations, where they receive instructions, and then they are transported further towards border with Poland," Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said at a press conference on Monday. "We're dealing with an operation orchestrated in Minsk and Moscow," he added. Three people who had illegally crossed Polish-Belarusian border were found dead due to hypothermia and exhaustion.
At a press conference on Monday, Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said the country was facing "an orchestrated operation aimed at destabilisation of the situation at Polish-Belarusian border".
He added that in September alone Poland detected nearly 4,000 illegal attempts to cross that border. "That's a lot more than in August, and September hasn't even ended yet. And August and September combined is over 7,000 such cases. Therefore, we're dealing with an organised mass operation, well orchestrated in Minsk and Moscow," the prime minister said.
He stressed that Polish services secured video footage caught by cameras and drones. "We are certain that people from Belarusian territory are being driven to Belarus Border Guard stations, where they are being gathered and receive instructions, and then, also by Belarusian guard's means, they are transported further towards border with Poland," Morawiecki said.
Earlier on, the PM informed that at least people who had crossed Polish-Belarusian border died due to hypothermia and exhaustion. He added that their identity remained unknown.
"But we will certainly do our best not to make those people anonymous. We would like each one of them to be treated with dignity, and those who survived are being treated in Polish hospitals in Suwałki, Augustów and other places," said the chief of the cabinet.
He also underscored that the government would keep on protecting Poland's borders "with full determination".
The Minister of the Interior and Administration Mariusz Kamiński, also present at the conference, said judging by the decisions of the Belarusian authorities, the crisis was likely to last for many months and have "very disturbing stages".
He also pointed out that Belarus had lifted visa regime last week with Pakistan, Jordan, Egypt, among other countries, while the airport in Grodno was to be open to international flights. "This means that we can expect flights with migrants right next to our border," he said.
Kamiński also accused Belarusian state services of taking part in international human trafficking, adding that migrants often paid a lot of money to enter the EU territory.
The minister added that 500 more soldiers would be sent over to the border to tighten security there.
On September 2, Poland has imposed a state of emergency along the border with Belarus, encompassing 183 towns and villages.
Źródło: TVN24 News in English, TVN24