Poland will extend the introduction of a buffer zone on its border with Belarus by 90 days, the interior ministry said on Tuesday, adding that the measure has proven effective in reducing illegal migration. Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s pro-European coalition government reimposed the no-go zone on a 60-kilometer (37-mile) barbed-wire border in June after a surge in migrant attempts to cross and a series of violent incidents, one of which left a soldier dead.
The border has become a flashpoint since migrants began flocking there in 2021 after Belarus, a close ally of Russia, opened travel agencies in the Middle East to offer a new unofficial route to Europe – a move that was intended to create a crisis. At that time, Poland first installed barbed wire on its border with Belarus, and then a metal fence with barbed wire. The Interior Ministry said that the number of illegal border crossing attempts had decreased by 64% since the zone was introduced.