Poland is deploying more than 1,000 military personnel and almost 200 pieces of equipment to the border with Belarus, Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said on his Twitter page.
According to Blaschak, these are servicemen and equipment from the 12th and 17th mechanized brigades, they will be transferred to the east of the country as part of the Safe Podlasie operation ( a region on the Belarusian-Polish border ). In this way, Poland will demonstrate its readiness to respond to attempts at destabilization near the country's borders, the minister said.
He also published a photo of equipment and military personnel heading towards the border.
Earlier, Polish Interior Minister Mariusz Kaminsky said that Poland would strengthen the border with Belarus with 500 police officers due to the tense situation. The law enforcement officers will join the 5,000 border guards and 2,000 military who are already patrolling the Polish-Belarusian border.
On July 7, the presidents of Lithuania, Latvia and Poland called on the NATO Secretary General and the heads of the states of the alliance to take into account the threats coming from Belarus due to the country's cooperation with Russia. The territory and resources of Belarus are being used by Russia to wage a brutal and illegal aggressive war against Ukraine, which indicates the ever closer military integration of the two countries, the report says. The letter also says that the Belarusian people “need a clear signal from NATO” that a democratic Belarus independent of the Russian Federation is important for the alliance.
Russia began to actively transfer tanks, equipment and personnel from Belarusian training grounds closer to the border with Ukraine back in December 2022, Belorussky Gayun reported . In April 2023, a train with equipment, presumably from the 120th Separate Guards Mechanized Brigade of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Belarus (deployed in Uruchcha, Minsk), was transferred to the Gudogai railway station, which is located 9 km from the border with Lithuania. Alexander Lukashenko also instructed to conduct an unscheduled check of the combat readiness of the Armed Forces of the Republic. Already after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Belarus accused Kiev of preparing an attack, and Lukashenka accidentally became the author of one of the most popular memes during the war, claiming that an “attack was being prepared” against Belarus from somewhere and promising to show cards. At the same time, it is Russia that uses the territory of Belarus to launch missiles at Ukraine.