Poland to double number of troops along Belarusian border

The Polish government is making plans to send an additional 2,000 troops to its border with Belarus, doubling the number already stationed there.

The move annpunced this week is spurred on by fears of illegal migration which Poland claims Belarusian authorities are organizing, the Polish deputy interior minister, Maciej Wasik, announced on PAP, the Polish news agency the Associated Press reports.

Though the situation at the Polish border is not as bad as it was two years ago, it has gotten worse, Wasik reportedly explained.

The Belarusian government has sent migrants from the Middle East and Africa to the Polish border, which Warsaw has called a kind of "hybrid warfare".

The Polish government built a steel wall along the border which has reportedly help stop excessive migration, but many still get through.

“If we had real border guards on the other side and not a smuggling service, these crossings would not exist at all,” Wasik reportedly said.

Belarus started military exercises near its border with Poland and Lithuania which included an incident last week where two Belarusian helicopters briefly entered Polish air space. Warsaw called it deliberate provocation, AP reports.

According to Wasik, new troops will reach the post within two weeks.