The visit highlighted Poland’s focus on strengthening EU border security, a priority during its current term leading the EU Council, officials said.
Journalists visited the closed Połowce border crossing, which has been part of a restricted buffer zone since 2022.
The zone, stretching 44 kilometers along the border, is up to 2 kilometers wide in certain areas and requires special permits to enter.
This regulation, implemented by Poland’s Ministry of the Interior, has been criticized by some non-governmental organizations for limiting access.
The delegation included correspondents from major European outlets such as France’s Le Monde, Italy’s La Stampa and Corriere della Sera, and Germany’s Die Welt and Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, as well as international news agencies, among them Reuters and Bloomberg.
Journalists from Polish media, including the PAP news agency and the Rzeczpospolita daily, were also present.
At the border, officials demonstrated Poland’s efforts to combat human smuggling.
Deputy Interior Minister Maciej Duszczyk told reporters that entry to the buffer zone is limited partly to prevent smuggling networks from aiding migrants.
“We aim to make operations more difficult for middlemen involved in this practice, who transport migrants across the border to Germany,” he said.
Duszczyk added that 346 journalists and NGO workers have been granted access to the zone since its creation.
In 2024, over 800 smugglers were arrested, most of them Ukrainian nationals living legally in Poland, according to Col. Andrzej Stasiulewicz of the Polish Border Guard.
He said that smugglers can earn around USD 500 per migrant, making it a lucrative, albeit illegal, side income. Those caught are deported to their countries of origin, he added.
Poland has reinforced its border infrastructure, including a 5.5-meter-tall barrier spanning 186 kilometers of the frontier. The wall, constructed in response to a Belarusian campaign of migrant pressure on EU borders, is monitored by thousands of cameras.
Efforts to incorporate artificial intelligence for detecting border crossings are ongoing, officials said.
Belarus and Russia have been using migrants as part of a "hybrid warfare" strategy to destabilize the EU, according to officials in Warsaw and Brussels.
"Poland is increasingly aware of the mechanisms behind this operation and is improving its response,” Duszczyk said, adding that Poland is strengthening its border protection measures and expects new legislation on asylum applications to take effect by June.
The law may allow temporary suspensions of asylum applications but will exclude vulnerable groups, such as pregnant women and victims of violence, Duszczyk said.
Critics, including the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, argue that the proposed legislation risks enabling illegal pushbacks and collective expulsions, actions prohibited under international law.
Duszczyk dismissed these concerns, stating that pushback policies depend on their definition and that the European Commission supports Poland’s approach.
The border visit coincided with a decrease in recent incidents.
Border officials suspect that Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has reduced pressure on the border to maintain domestic stability ahead of Belarus’ January presidential election.
Lukashenko, who is not recognized by Western governments, seeks a seventh term in a vote criticized by the opposition as undemocratic.
Poland plans to continue emphasizing border security during its EU Council presidency, which lasts until the end of June.
In March, Warsaw will host an informal meeting of EU interior ministers to discuss migrant returns and border management strategies.
(rt/gs)
Source: PAP