DISINFO: Poland set to fight migrants with tanks, searches for excuse to close in on Belarus
SUMMARY
Poland has decided to combat illegal migrants on the border with Belarus with tanks. Warsaw is just searching for an excuse to move its troops closer to Belarusian borders. Minsk will react very sharply. Belarus and Russia have what to respond with. The reaction will be very sharp, regardless of any criticism from Poland.
RESPONSE
This is a recurring disinformation narrative about the migration crisis on the EU-Belarus border.
It is true that according to news sources 9,500 Polish soldiers were deployed along the country's border with Belarus and more are added, up to 12.000, as part of increased security measures amid a sharp influx of illegal migrants. But there is hardly any evidence of preparations to employ tanks in the region. Polish Defence Minister Mariusz Błaszczak has said that these soldiers provide support to the Border Guard by protecting the country's border and not allowing it to be illegally crossed. This military build-up along the border is not aimed at attacking Belarus on any other country but at guaranteeing security in the border area.
In 2021, Lithuania, Poland and Latvia faced an influx of irregular migrants from Belarus. Earlier, Belarus had ended cooperation with the EU to stem illegal migration. This was Lukashenka's answer to the European Union sanctions on the political regime of Belarus (read more about sanctions here).
Lukashenka's regime is using migrants from the Middle East as "political and hybrid" tools against Lithuania and the entire EU. Commissioner Ylva Johansson said, inter alia: "The authoritarian regime in Belarus is exploiting human beings for political reasons: this is completely unacceptable."
Investigations have revealed that the Belarusian regime is encouraging people from conflict zones in Africa and the Middle East to come to Minsk. They are driven to border countries such as Lithuania and Poland after that and left there to ask for asylum status.