Poland's top diplomat hints at seeking Frontex help amid rising Poland-Belarus border tension

Poland's Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said on Wednesday that he will consider requesting assistance from the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) as tensions rise on the Poland-Belarusian border.

“I believe, the presence of officers from other EU countries would benefit us,” he said in an interview with Radio ZET.

"I believe it would be in Poland's interest to show (Russian President) Putin and (Belorussian President) Lukashenko that they are attacking not only the Polish border but also the border of the European Union," Sikorski alleged.

Earlier on Tuesday, Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs and Administration Czeslaw Mroczek said a "migrant attempting to enter Poland from Belarus illegally stabbed a soldier. The injured man was taken to a hospital in Hajnowka and had surgery."

His health condition is reportedly serious, he said in a statement.

The incident occurred on Tuesday around 4:30 a.m. (0230GMT) near Dubicze Cerkiewne, according to the statement, with the attacker inserting his hand through the gaps between the spans in the steel fence and striking the rib area.

In January 2022, Poland began constructing a 5.5-meter (18-foot)-high steel fence topped with barbed wire along the 187-kilometer (116-mile) Belarus border, which was completed in June 2022.

According to some Polish media reports, irregular migrants were given planks of wood to cross the Svislach river and taxis carrying ladders to straddle the fence, with Belarus allegedly providing wire cutters and axes to cut through fences.

Migration pressure is increasing, as is their aggression, Mroczek said in the statement, adding, “They are attempting to force the border in large groups, with the assistance of Belarusian services."

Frontex is an EU agency that helps EU and Schengen countries manage their external borders and combat cross-border crime.

When the border crisis began in mid-2021, the previous government refused to accept Frontex's offers of assistance, after Belarusian authorities allegedly pushed thousands of migrants over the EU border into Poland, many of whom were later pushed back over the border by Polish Border Guards.

The incident occurred amid rising security rhetoric from the new Polish government, led by Prime Minister Donald Franciszek Tusk.

In April, Tusk said Poland would not agree to new rules allowing for relocation of migrants within the EU.

On May 18, Tusk announced that he would increase spending on eastern border defense. The "Shield East" is to cost 10 billion zlotys (about $248.6 million) and would made up of several hundred kilometers of fences, barriers, and other obstacles along Belarus' border.

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