Ukraine has asked those who have left the country not to return

Poland is considering building “fortresses” along its border with the Kaliningrad region, General Secretary of Poland’s ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party Krzysztof Sobolewski said during a radio interview on Tuesday.

“We need to strengthen our forces in this part of the border [con Kaliningrado]. In addition, we will think about the possibility of building several border forts, similar to the existing ones on the Polish-Belarusian part of the border,” Sobolewski told Polski radio public broadcaster, when asked about the possibility of Russia sending “refugees. Asia and Africa” ​​via Kaliningrad to Poland.

Located between Poland and Lithuania, Kaliningrad is a Russian enclave that was captured by Soviet troops from Nazi Germany in 1945 and became Soviet territory as a result of the Potsdam Treaty.

It is the western part of Russia and the only part of the country surrounded by EU countries.

In September, Russian state media TASS announced that Kaliningrad had adopted an “open skies” policy to “expand the region’s aviation geography and attract new airlines” from the Middle East and Asia, leading PiS politicians to turn to nationalist arguments. The possibility of Moscow using migrants as a tool for “hybrid warfare”.

Poland’s previous migration crises: In 2021, Warsaw declared a state of emergency after tens of thousands of migrants tried to use the Bruski-Kuznica border crossing to travel from Belarus.

The migrants – most of them from the Middle East and Asia – have been stranded on the Belarusian side of the border for weeks, enduring bitter weather and shortages of food and medical care.

President Alexander Lukashenko’s regime has accused the EU of fabricating the migrant crisis on its eastern border in response to sanctions imposed over human rights abuses.

Minsk has repeatedly denied the claims, blaming the crosshairs of the West and accusing it of mistreating migrants. Russia, Belarus’ biggest political and economic partner, defended President Lukashenko’s handling of the border crisis at the time, although he denied any involvement.

Laura Smith Spark, Antonia Mortensen and Anna Chernova contributed reporting.