Russia is carrying out snap military drills in Belarus just a few miles from the Polish border today, as fears grow that Vladimir Putin is preparing for an invasion in eastern Europe.
According to the Daily Mail, Russia’s defense ministry said the unannounced drill involved paratroopers from both countries dropping at the Gozhsky range, just 20 miles from where thousands of migrants are gathered at the Polish border, where they practiced capturing bridges as well as hunting down and destroying enemy patrols.
Belarus said the drill was in response to the ‘build-up of military activity’ at the Polish border, where 15,000 troops have been stationed to hold back the migrants, while Russia said it was to test the ‘combat readiness’ of its troops. At the same time, Polish defence minister Mariusz Błaszczak revealed that British military engineers have been deployed to help strengthen the border defences, amid warnings from all sides that the crisis risks spilling over into an armed conflict.
The MoD confirmed a ‘small team’ has been sent to provide engineering support. The WSJ reported that For years, thousands of U.S. and NATO troops have stood guard in Poland—a presence designed to deter an invasion by Russian troops and tanks. This week, the Western alliance faced a less conventional challenge:
At least 2,000 people from the Middle East trying to cross into Poland from Russia’s closest ally, Belarus. European officials accuse Belarus of abetting human traffickers bringing migrants into their country and then of funneling the new arrivals toward the border in an effort to provoke a crisis—things Belarus denies.
Tensions are rising. Poland has deployed more soldiers along the frontier to keep the would-be crossers out. Russia says it views the troop movements as a threat and has responded by sending bombers to patrol over Belarus. Alexander Lukashenko, Belarus’s authoritarian president, noted in a press conference that the Russian warplanes were capable of carrying nuclear weapons.
According to the Finger Lakes Times, The European Union’s Baltic member states warned on Thursday of a possible military escalation in the stand-off about migrants trying to reach the European Union from Belarus. The defence ministers of the Baltic states warned that the migrant bottlenecks, which the EU says are being deliberately created by Minsk, threaten a vast section of the bloc’s eastern flank — and could even spark a military conflict.
“Large groups of people are gathered and transported to the border area, where they are then forced to cross the border illegally. This increases the possibility of provocations and serious incidents which could also spill over into the military sphere,” Kalle Laanet of Estonia, Artis Pabriks of Latvia, and Arvydas Anusauskas of Lithuania wrote in a joint statement.
They condemned the “deliberate escalation of the Belarusian regime’s ongoing hybrid attack.” While stressing their countries’ bilateral support for Poland, the ministers also called on the EU “to increase its practical support to improve security at its external borders.” Many hundreds of migrants, including many children, are staying in the open in near-freezing temperatures along Belarus’ western border with the EU. Some have tents, others have only the nearby woods for shelter.
