Warsaw, 10 August 2023 (dpa/MIA) - Poland plans to strengthen its border to Belarus with another 10,000 soldiers.

Some 4,000 soldiers would support the border guards, and another 6,000 should form the reserve, Poland's Defence Minister Mariusz Błaszczak told Polish public radio on Thursday.

"Our aim is to scare off the aggressor so that he does not dare to attack Poland," he said.

Like Lithuania, Poland is concerned about the activities of Russian Wagner mercenaries in Belarus.

Moreover, the increasing number of migrants trying to get into the European Union without permission through the neighbouring country is a cause for concern.

Poland, which is a member of the European Union and the western NATO military alliance, shares a 418-kilometre-long border with Belarus.

Some 5,000 border guards and 2,000 soldiers are already deployed on Poland's eastern border with Belarus, which is also the external border of the EU and NATO. They are also to receive assistance from 500 police officers.

On Wednesday Błaszczak had already announced that Warsaw wanted to reinforce the guarding of the border with another 2,000 soldiers.

In 2021, the situation at the border between Poland and Belarus escalated when thousands of people tried to illegally enter the EU.

Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko was accused by the EU of moving migrants from crisis regions to the EU's external border to put pressure on the West.

Poland fears provocations since troops of the Wagner private army of mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin have set up camp in Belarus after a failed uprising against the Kremlin.

According to the leadership in Minsk, the Wagner fighters are to train the Belarusian army.

NATO refers to the corridor on Polish and Lithuanian territory between Belarus and Kaliningrad the Suwałki Gap. By taking this corridor, Russia could cut off the Baltic states from the other NATO countries. The corridor is named after the Polish town of Suwałki.

Photo: EPA