Poland lodges protest with Belarus after Molotov cocktail attack on border

WARSAW

Poland has lodged a formal protest with Belarus after a Molotov cocktail was thrown at Polish border guards this week near the frontier town of Czeremcha, Interior Minister Tomasz Siemoniak said Thursday.

Speaking to public radio, Siemoniak said Warsaw would take “strong diplomatic steps” following the attack, which occurred Tuesday after officers detained 10 migrants in the northeastern border region.

Poland sees the incident as part of an ongoing hybrid campaign orchestrated by Belarus and its ally, Russia, against Poland and the neighboring Baltic states.

The incident is the latest in a series of border-related tensions between the two countries. Between August and December 2021, Polish authorities recorded tens of thousands of unauthorized crossing attempts, peaking in October of that year.

Warsaw and other EU capitals have accused Minsk of deliberately channeling migrants -- mostly from the Middle East and North Africa -- to the borders of Lithuania, Latvia, and Poland in retaliation for EU sanctions imposed after Belarus’s disputed 2020 presidential election.

After a brief lull, border crossings have surged again in spring 2024.

In May, a Polish soldier was fatally stabbed at the border. A week earlier, three Polish soldiers were accused of firing shots at migrants attempting to cross.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said in October that his administration was considering a temporary suspension of the right to asylum due to the border crisis.