Poland: Belarus services fit out illegal migrants with camo uniforms, provocations are feasible
Belarusians started to provide irregular migrants with camouflage uniforms; the provocations are looming, the Polish side warns.
“Lukashenka is cynically using migrants to destabilise the situation in Poland, Lithuania and Latvia. The latest information obtained from the border service shows that Belarusians are handing over their uniforms to migrants not far from Usnarz. In addition, it is highly likely that provocations will take place,” Stanisław Żaryn, Spokesman for Poland’s Minister Coordinator of Special Services said on Twitter on Wednesday.
He added to his post a tweet by the Polish border guard service which updated information about the situation at the Polish-Belarusian border.
“We anticipate [staging] provocations by the Belarusian side. The Belarusian services are giving uniforms to foreigners roaming on their side, despite the fact that they had repeatedly received assistance, including warm clothes, from representatives of Belarusian NGOs before,” Polish border guards report.
The information above is impliedly confirmed by photos posted on the web by pro-Lukashenka MP Tengiz Dumbadze. Together with Liliya Ananich, a representative of the state-controlled Belarusian Women’s Union and former Information Minister, he visited a migrants’ camp.
In turn, the State Border Committee of Belarus has commented on photos of camouflaged migrants, saying that they were given jackets and pants from sets of border guards’ uniforms a week ago.
In addition, on September 28, the Polish Border Guard Service published a thermovision camera recording that features Belarusian special services using a ladder to help migrants climb over the barbed wire fence and enter Poland. The Belarusian authorities continue to deny any involvement.
