Mariusz Blaszczak traveled to Jarylowka, in eastern Poland, to meet troops recently stationed on the Belarusian border.
He insisted that it is a merely dissuasive measure, not hostile, as Minsk and Moscow maintain.
“There is no doubt that the Belarusian regime cooperates with the Kremlin and that the attacks on the Polish border are intended to destabilize our country,” Blaszczak said.
Two Belarusian helicopters briefly entered Polish airspace last week, which Warsaw considered a deliberate provocation. Similarly, a pro-government group in Belarus recently said that Polish politicians, who support Ukraine in its war against Russian aggression, “ignite the fires of war with their actions and rhetoric” and are “driven by the frenzy of chauvinism.” ”.
Blaszczak stated that the measures taken by Belarus “mean a threat to our security”, and that is why Poland is reinforcing its “deterrent potential”.
He said days ago that up to 10,000 troops from the army and the territorial defense force will be stationed on the border with Belarus, in addition to the Border Guard. Some will be in training and patrol, and others in reserve.
The ruling conservative Law and Justice party is seeking an unprecedented third term in parliamentary elections on October 15 amid a hotly contested campaign trying to show it takes the country’s security seriously. The government has spent billions of dollars on weapons purchased from the United States and South Korea.
Officials in Moscow have repeatedly said, without foundation, that Poland wants to annex the western regions of Ukraine, and analysts say that Poland has become the personification of the “collective enemy of Russia” because it supports Ukraine and the Western ammunition going to Ukraine. They pass through their territory.
FOUNTAIN: Associated Press
