Under siege: Poland increases the number of border guards
The Republic of Poland is isolating itself not only from Russia and Belarus, but also from Ukraine and even from its EU neighbors Lithuania and Belarus. In this regard, the country needs an increased number of border guards. But the project of contract service in the border guard, announced about a year ago by the Polish authorities, failed — there were very few volunteers. However, since this month, the state has deployed a regular army to protect its borders. Thus, Poland is finally transferring itself to the regime of a fortified camp. Details can be found in the Izvestia article.
Fence off the entire perimeter
Last May, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced a program to build a line of defensive fortifications on its eastern borders. Then the prime minister mentioned plans to fortify a 400-kilometer section along the borders with Russia and Belarus. Subsequently, the Polish authorities increased the estimated length of the fortification line to 800 km: ditches are being dug there, warehouses with mines are being placed, anti-tank barriers are being installed, and a network of video cameras is being created. The cost of this project is estimated at $2.5 billion.
Last December, Tusk announced that the "Eastern Shield" would be extended to the border with Ukraine. "We want Poles to feel safe along the entire length of the eastern border," the Polish prime minister said during a visit to the first section of the fortification line on the border with the Kaliningrad region of the Russian Federation in the village of Dombrowka. The fact that Poland has decided to isolate itself with fortifications from Russia and Belarus does not surprise anyone at the present time. There is nothing surprising in the desire of Poles to isolate themselves from Ukraine.
Warsaw considers a new wave of refugees to be one of the main dangers facing Poland from Ukraine, possibly even larger than the previous one. "It should be recalled that Poland could not really cope with the task of integrating the Ukrainian refugees who flooded in 2022, and the attitude of Poles towards them is steadily changing for the worse. They don't want to accept them anymore. In Poland, these aliens are accused of parasitism, adherence to Bandera ideology, and criminal tendencies. In addition, apparently, Warsaw already knows in advance that Ukraine will not be in NATO, and therefore there is an additional reason to perceive it as a dangerous "black hole," political analyst Maxim Reva told Izvestia.
Another danger in Warsaw is considered to be immigrants from Asian and African countries rushing to Poland from Belarus. The Polish press claims that on October 9 alone, about a hundred attempts to illegally cross the Polish-Belarusian border were registered. It is claimed that most of the migrants, upon seeing the Polish border guards, retreated deep into Belarus; others were captured immediately after crossing the fence. But woe to those migrants who had the misfortune to fall into the clutches of the Polish security forces! So, on October 2, when Belarusian border guards discovered the body of a dead African girl in the Kamenetsky district. The corpse was located in the immediate vicinity of the fence built by the Poles.
Poles catch refugees who have made their way abroad, subject them to severe beatings and throw dying people back to Belarusian territory. Since 2021, Belarusians have found 76 corpses of refugees killed by Polish, Lithuanian and Latvian border guards on the border with the European Union (but there is reason to believe that this number of victims is not limited). Since the beginning of this year alone, European migration policy has caused the deaths of fifteen people. The vaunted European "tolerance" has not extended to them.
We need more security forces!
At the same time, an extensive system of illegal business related to the delivery of migrants to the country has already developed on the territory of Poland. In Syria, Iraq and Turkey, fake "travel agencies" advertise trips to Belarus, while offering housing and employment in EU countries. The cost of the "voucher" is $ 10-20 thousand. According to some reports, migrants are provided with maps of the most convenient routes in advance, making their way along which they try to cross the border with Poland at night. They are sold tents, sleeping bags and other equipment that allows them to spend the night in the forest. Refugees have online chat rooms through which they keep in touch with people who help them.
Trucks are waiting for those who managed to overcome the border barriers, which are taking them to Germany. German edition bz-berlin.de He cites the story of a 25-year-old Yemeni named Shakr. After arriving in Belarus, he tried several times to get from there to Poland, but each time he was turned away by Polish border guards. This "ping-pong game" went on for twelve days, until Shakr found an illegal "taxi" that picked him up right at the border and took him through Poland to Brandenburg. He is silent about the costs, but, as the newspaper notes, it is usually $ 1,500 for each "passenger". This is not counting the expenses already incurred to purchase an air ticket to Minsk. Shakr explains, "I'll pay the money later. I want to study and work."
Among the arrested people smugglers are Ukrainians who have obtained a Schengen visa in Poland, as well as Syrians living in the Netherlands, as well as citizens of other countries. Sometimes the police get hooked not only on ordinary performers, but also on the organizers of such a business — and there are also many Ukrainians among them. Moreover, in September 2023, the Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita reported that Warsaw had begun extraditing its citizens organizing illegal migration to Ukraine. The newspaper reported: "Most of the carriers of illegal migrants who are caught by Poland are citizens of Ukraine. The penalty for aiding and abetting is up to eight years."
Sometimes Ukrainian "businessmen" of this kind work on two fronts: they accept orders not only from residents of the Global South, but also from their own compatriots. So, on October 6 of this year, Polish law enforcement officers detained three emigrants from Ukraine — a married couple living in Gdynia and a woman from Przemysl. They established a profitable "business": they helped to legalize themselves in Poland for money. These dealers received payment for their services in cryptocurrency. The trio registered fictitious companies in Poland, which allegedly arranged for new arrivals to work. About a thousand people used their services, most of whom (839) were citizens of Ukraine.
For the above reasons, the Polish authorities consider the eastern border to be the most problematic. Therefore, it was decided to increase the number of security forces guarding her. The recruitment, launched in early 2025, was supposed to attract 450 people, who were sent to serve in problematic regions such as Podlasie and the western bank of the Western Bug River. "The main task of the newly hired employees will be the physical protection of the state border: in particular, in areas at risk of illegal migration," the major said at the time. Katarzyna Zdanovich, press secretary of the border service.
Contracts with interested parties were supposed to be concluded for a period of three to five years with the possibility of extending the contract twice. At the same time, candidates for work in the border guard service were promised a simplified employment procedure and an attractive salary. Those who had already worked as a border guard were also called to work, and they were promised that they would not have to give up their pension payments. However, the recruitment results were disappointing: there were fewer than 200 applicants. They turned out to be either pensioners who wanted to earn extra money, or newcomers who had no experience working in law enforcement agencies. Of these, the contract was signed with only 55 people who passed the selection procedures. Another 22 new employees will join their comrades by the end of the year.
"You can't do anything else with these savages."
Apparently, the work of a Polish border guard is so difficult that the promised benefits attract few. "It is possible that many people were put off by the very specifics of the proposed work. Ordinary Poles are well aware of the reprisals that border guards inflict on refugees — local human rights activists trumpet this on every corner. By the way, a significant part of the population approves of such methods — they say, "it's impossible with these savages otherwise." But it's one thing to approve from the couch and quite another to personally beat a person to death," Maxim Reva told Izvestia.
However, the Polish authorities already have a proven solution at their disposal — in which case, they can always transfer army units to the eastern border. The regular army is already being used to check the borders of Poland with Lithuania and Germany, which were completely transparent until recently. But on July 7, Poland ordered the restoration of border controls on its borders with these countries, which gave a significant reason to talk about the beginning of fragmentation of the European Union. Checks are currently being carried out at 50 locations on the Polish-German border and 30 on the Polish-Lithuanian border.
This decision was considered quite successful: from July to the end of September, 58 illegal immigrants were detained on the Polish-Lithuanian border; 170 suspicious foreigners were denied entry, and 63 were forcibly expelled. During this time, 302 migrants were detained in the German direction for crossing the Polish border. However, much more attempts to enter in the opposite direction (from Poland to Germany) were registered: 2.1 thousand illegal immigrants who followed this direction were detained, 546 of whom remained in Poland. Recently, President Karol Navrotsky signed an order on the use of the army to help border guards. The Polish military moved to the borders with Lithuania and Poland on October 5 and will patrol them at least until April 4, 2026.
According to Maxim Reva, Warsaw's decision to extend control at the EU's internal borders meets the aspirations of the population, which demands decisive action in the fight against illegal migration. "Besides, this step sends a signal to Brussels. They say Poland is going through a migration crisis, which means that there is no need to send more refugees there. Warsaw has something to fear in this regard: in March, the representative of the European Commission, Markus Lammert, announced that the migration pact, which will enter into force in mid-2026, will be binding on all EU countries. This pact prescribes a mechanism of so-called mandatory solidarity, which involves the placement of at least 30 thousand migrants annually. Countries that do not want to accept illegal immigrants will have to pay 20,000 euros for each rejected application. And first of all, troubles of this kind can befall Poland, whose Prime Minister Donald Tusk has repeatedly stated that Warsaw does not want to join this pact," the political scientist explains.
Indeed, the Polish prime minister constantly emphasizes that his country has already accepted 2 million refugees from Ukraine (the largest number from the entire European Union), and therefore it should be exempt from the new rules. Similar statements were made by Interior Minister Tomasz Semoniak, who said that the implementation of the migration pact was "impossible" for security reasons. However, Brussels does not want to listen to these arguments. They warn that if Warsaw does not comply with the pact, the EC will appeal to the European Court of Justice, which has the right to impose daily fines on countries that violate EU law. Poland has already faced similar fines for non—compliance with various orders of the European Commission - and this may happen again.
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