Polish Military Helicopters To Guard Country's Border With Belarus - Defense Ministry

Poland will deploy military helicopters to guard its border with Belarus and prevent illegal migrant crossings, Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said on Wednesday

WARSAW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 06th October, 2021) Poland will deploy military helicopters to guard its border with Belarus and prevent illegal migrant crossings, Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said on Wednesday.

"Ensuring the impenetrability of the border with Belarus is currently the key task of the Polish armed forces and the border guard. Border police officers are already supported by about 3,000 soldiers. In the coming days, military helicopters will carry out air patrols along the Belarusian-Polish border," Blaszczak wrote on Twitter.

In recent months, Poland, Latvia and Lithuania have reported an influx of migrants trying to cross into the European Union from Belarus and accused Minsk of facilitating illegal migration in order destabilize the bloc in retaliation for sanctions.

Belarus has denied these accusations and said it simply lacks resources to control migration effectively.

To address the situation, Polish President Andrzej Duda announced a state of emergency on the territories bordering Belarus, and deployed army and police to protect the national border.

In September 2021, the Polish border guard recorded 7,535 attempts to cross the border from Belarus illegally. For the entirety of 2020, there were only 120 such attempts.