"This is no joke, these are not a few illegal attempts to cross this border, this is a planned action by the Belarusian KGB, the Russian FSB… by our Russian and Belarussian enemies, who want to destroy our peace and order," Morawiecki said.
Artur Reszko/PAP

Mateusz Morawiecki, the Polish prime minister, has said that a hybrid attack on Poland’s border with Belarus has been ongoing for two years now.

During his visit to Sutno on the Polish-Belarusian border on Thursday he told a press briefing that only since the beginning of this year there have been over 16,000 attempts by illegal immigrants to enter Poland from Belarus.

“This is no joke, these are not a few illegal attempts to cross this border, this is a planned action by the Belarusian KGB, the Russian FSB… by our Russian and Belarussian enemies, who want to destroy our peace and order,” Morawiecki said.

“For over two years Poland has been experiencing an attack, which we call a hybrid attack, on our eastern border,” he added.

According to Morawiecki, “this is a clear signal of what would have happened here, on our eastern border, if we had not secured it.”

In 2021, Poland experienced heightened migratory pressure on its border with Belarus with thousands of migrants trying to get into the country. Warsaw blamed the crisis on the Belarusian government, saying it was flying in Middle Eastern and African migrants on the false promise of easy access to the EU.

According to Polish officials, the hybrid attack from Belarus was co-prepared with the Russian secret services.

As a result of the crisis, Poland erected a fence along its border with Belarus and later decided to upgrade it with electronic surveillance equipment, including CCTV cameras and night vision systems.