MOD chief: hybrid attacks on Poland are certainly coordinated at the Kremlin

Defence Minister Mariusz Błaszczak said he expected such attacks to continue and the Polish military had to be ready to respond and repel them.

"Today's briefing is to ensure that we are consolidated and ready to repel provocations from the Belarusian side. We are all aware that Belarus today, in military terms, is part of the reconstructed Russian empire, so these hybrid attacks on Poland are certainly coordinated at the Kremlin," he said.

"Our task, the task of the Polish military, is to prevent the destabilisation of Poland, because the goal of these attacks is the destabilisation of Poland. We have to be aware that the provocations will continue."

Poland and its allies say Belarus has been engaging in hybrid warfare with its neighbour since 2021, when they say Minsk engineered a migrant crisis that saw tens of thousands trying to cross into Poland and its EU and NATO fellows Lithuania and Latvia.

In response, Poland fortified the border and increased its military presence in the area.

Earlier on Thursday, Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki also commented on the hybrid warfare waged against NATO.

"Russia and Belarus are increasing the pressure on our borders, they are increasing the number of provocations, and we have to be aware that the number of these provocations will increase," he said.

"This is what provocation is about, this is what intrigue and plotting on the part of Putin and Lukashenko is about. And this is what the operational activities on their side are about. In order to destabilise. In order to create unrest, chaos, uncertainty, and at the same time, to show the weakness of NATO's eastern flank to all of our partners in NATO," Morawiecki added.

The arrival of Wagner Group mercenaries in Belarus following a failed mutiny in Russia has increased the likelihood of hybrid attacks, Polish officials say.

Wagner soldiers have begun training with the Belarus national army, in execrises that could be heard on the Polish side, and prompting Poland to start moving more than 1,000 troops closer to the border. On Tuesday (August 2) it accused Belarus of violating its airspace with military helicopters.

U.S. Department of State spokesperson Matthew Miller on Wednesday evening was asked about the incident at the Polish-Belarusian border.

"We have seen that the Polish Government has issued a statement on the matter. We expect all countries to respect the sovereign air space of other countries, and we will continue to take NATO security very seriously," the spokesperson replied.

Miller added the U.S. was in close communication with Poland, "an important NATO Ally". He explained said communication was maintained on "a number of levels, chiefly through our embassy in the country". "I don’t have any specific conversations to read out at this point. And with respect to Belarus, I will just say that it is a situation that we continue to monitor."