ARCHIVE – A Polish border guard stands during the visit of Federal Interior Minister Dobrindt in the village of Polowce-Pieszczatka on the Polish-Belarusian border. Photo: Czarek Sokolowski/AP/dpa
Keystone
Poland has extended the validity of the buffer zone in the border area with Belarus. The regulation will remain in place for a further 90 days until June 3, the Ministry of the Interior announced in Warsaw.
The decision was justified by the “continuing migratory pressure” on the Polish-Belarusian border. Many migrants who want to enter the EU irregularly via Belarus have Germany as their destination.
However, the Ministry of the Interior in Warsaw gave another reason for its decision. According to the statement, the number of incidents in which weather balloons carrying smuggled cigarettes had recently penetrated the airspace over Poland had increased.
Poland and the European Union accuse Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko of bringing migrants from crisis regions to the EU’s external border in an organized manner in order to exert pressure on the West. Authoritarian Belarus is an ally of Russia.
In the summer of 2022, Poland secured the border with Belarus with a 5.5-metre-high fence and an electronic surveillance system. This is also an EU external border. Despite the construction of the border fortifications, migrants continue to attempt to cross the EU’s external border irregularly on a daily basis.
Buffer zone to make the work of smugglers more difficult
The center-left government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk established the restricted zone in June 2024. Its aim was to make the illegal smuggling of migrants across the Polish-Belarusian border more difficult and to improve working conditions for border guards, the army and the police.
The restricted zone has a depth of 200 meters, but in a few places it can be up to four kilometers. This zone may only be entered by local residents and uniformed services. Representatives of aid organizations and the media require a permit. EU and NATO member Poland has a border with Belarus that is around 400 kilometers long.