The Polish Embassy in Ireland has said that Belarus is engaging in a disinformation campaign aimed to destabilise and delegitimise Poland by falsely claiming that the Polish Border Guard has been using excessive force to control migration. The Polish Embassy said that the campaign was directed “against our security and territorial integrity,” and that “provocation and disinformation are daily bread for the Belarusian regime.”
Belarusian media recently broadcast the case of an Egyptian migrant who was allegedly beaten by the Polish Border Guard. The Polish have denied that this occoured and said “it is noteworthy that the foreigner knew Russian well and tried to cross the border alone. This is another example of a disinformation attempt aimed at the Polish border services and trying to present them as violent towards migrants.”
The situation along the border has been heating up since last year, with Poland having declared a state of emergency along the border in September. The Polish Border Guard reported 502 attempts to illegally cross the increasingly militarised Polish-Belarusian border in the first two weeks of this year. The Polish say that Belarusian services are coordinating those attempts to cross the border, and that the Belarusian’s have destroyed parts of the fencing along the border.
The Polish have said that their attempts to counter illegal migration along the Polish-Belarusian border have been “firm,” but that multiple Polish attempts to organise humanitarian transports for the migrants have been foiled by the Belarusian government.