Poland plans to deploy some 10,000 soldiers on its eastern border with Belarus, the Polish Minister of Defense announced on Thursday.
Beefed by security would be a "deterrent" amid rising tensions between Warsaw and Minsk, a staunch ally of Moscow.
"It will be about 10,000 soldiers, 4,000 of whom will be directly engaged in border police support operations and 6,000 others as reinforcements," Mariusz Blaszczak told Polish public radio.
Just yesterday the minister announced 2,000 soldiers would be dispatched within two weeks to reinforce the border, joining an existing force already stationed in the area.
Fears of a provocation on Poland's borders have risen, following the arrival of thousands of mercenaries from the Russian Wagner group on Belarussian soil.
However, Andrzej Kruczyński, a Polish security expert told Lithuania's public broadcaster LRT that panic around the mercenaries was “bizarre and absurd”, suggesting Poland's ruling PiS was likely using security concerns "to their advantage" amid upcoming elections.
"[Wagner forces] are in no way a threat to us. It is necessary to look at the situation calmly. We can continue strengthening the border, but not to […] stir up unrest [in the society],” said the retired colonel.
Two Belarusian helicopters briefly violated Polish airspace last week, which Warsaw called an antagonistic move.
Warsaw also accuses Minsk and Moscow of orchestrating a new influx of migrants into the European Union in order to destabilise the region.
According to Polish border guards, 19,000 migrants have tried to enter Poland since the beginning of the year, compared to 16,000 for the whole of 2022.
During the past month, more than 4,000 migrants have tried to cross the Polish border.
“Russia and Belarus are increasing the pressure on the borders," Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said at a news conference with Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda last Thursday. "We must be aware that the number of these provocations will grow."
Dr Stephen Hall, lecturer of Russian politics at the University of Bath, told Euronews earlier in August Wagner could stage an attack to sever the Baltics from NATO, though he questioned if such a "suicidal" step would be taken, owing to immense geopolitical risks.
He suggested such an assault could happen against the Suwalki Gap, a sparsely populated land corridor sandwiched between Lithuania and Poland to the north and south, and Belarus and Russia's Kaliningrad enclave to the east and west.
"Wagner are relatively well equipped, they're trained, and have the capacity in terms of not just the arms side of things, but also the propaganda," Hall told Euronews.
But he continued: "Even if Wagner were to punch a hole through the Polish defences and take the Suwalki Gap, then that is a declaration of war."
West African leaders on Thursday said they firmly supported diplomacy in the search to end the crisis in Niger, stepping back from a threat to intervene militarily in the coup-stricken country."We prioritise diplomatic negotiations and dialogue as the bedrock of our approach," said Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, chairing an emergency summit of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in Abuja.The 15-nation bloc is struggling to stem military takeovers that have now swept through four of its members in three years.Their summit came four days after the expiry of an ultimatum to Niger's coup leaders to reinstate the elected president, Mohamed Bazoum, who was detained by guards on July 26.But the regime ignored the deadline."Regrettably, the seven-day ultimatum we issued during the first summit has not yielded the desired outcome," Tinubu acknowledged."We must engage all parties involved, including the coup leaders, in earnest discussions to convince them to relinquish power and reinstate President Bazoum," he said.The coup leaders on Thursday signalled further defiance by appointing a new government.A 21-member cabinet will be headed by Prime Minister Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine, a civilian, with generals from the new military governing council leading the defence and interior ministries.The possibility of military intervention in Niger, a fragile nation that ranks among the world's poorest, sparked debate within ECOWAS and warnings from neighbouring Algeria as well as Russia.Niger's neighbours Mali and Burkina Faso, both ruled by military governments that seized power in coups, also warned an intervention would be a "declaration of war" on their countries.Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea, also hit by a recent coup, have been suspended from ECOWAS and like Niger were not represented at the Abuja summit.But the presidents or envoys of the bloc's 11 other members attended, and the presidents of Burundi and Mauritania were also invited.- Hopes for 'real discussions' -On Tuesday, a bid to send a joint team of ECOWAS, UN and African Union representatives to Niger's capital Niamey was rejected by the coup leaders.But in a twist on Wednesday, a former emir of the Nigerian city of Kano said he had met with the coup leaders to help mediate the crisis.Sanusi Lamido Sanusi told Nigerian state television he had spoken to coup leader General Abdourahamane Tiani and would deliver a "message" to Tinubu, though he was not an official government emissary."We came hoping that our arrival will pave the way for real discussions between the leaders of Niger and those of Nigeria," said Sanusi, who is known to be a close friend of Tinubu.Current ECOWAS chair Nigeria had taken a hard line against last month's coup, the fifth in Niger since independence from France in 1960.Speaking before flying to Abuja on Wednesday, Guinea-Bissau's President Umaro Sissoco Embalo said the future of ECOWAS was at stake following the recent coups among its members. UN secretary general Antonio Guterres joined a chorus of concern about 63-year-old Bazoum, saying that he and his family were reportedly living in "deplorable living conditions".CNN reported Wednesday that Bazoum was being kept in isolation and given meals of only plain rice and pasta.- Unstable Sahel -Countries in the Sahel are battling a jihadist insurgency that erupted in northern Mali in 2012, spread to Niger and Burkina Faso in 2015, and is now causing jitters in states on the Gulf of Guinea.The bloody campaign has been devastating for those three countries, which have turbulent histories and rank among the poorest nations in the world.Niger has the misfortune of facing a double jihadist insurgency, both in its southwest and also from militants crossing into the southeast. Across the region, thousands of civilians, police and soldiers have been killed. IBazoum's election in 2021 had helped Niger cement close ties with France and the United States, which have major bases and troop deployments in the country.France last year withdrew its forces from Mali and Burkina Faso after falling out with their military leaders, refocussing its anti-jihadist strategy on Niger.cma/js/jmm
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