Polish Border Guard Says Gunshots Fired Into Air On Belarusian Side

Polish Border Guard Says Gunshots Fired Into Air on Belarusian Side

The Polish border guard said on Wednesday that they recorded a series of shots fired on the Belarusian side of the common border

WARSAW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 29th December, 2021) The Polish border guard said on Wednesday that they recorded a series of shots fired on the Belarusian side of the common border.

Earlier in the day, the Polish Border Guard said no illegal crossings have been detected over the past day for the first time since summer. However, soldiers observed several "disturbing incidents" on the Belarusian side, according to the spokeswoman of the Polish Border Guard, Anna Michalska.

"A car of the local security forces appeared on the Belarusian side of the border, the people riding in it fired two shots into the air," she told reporters.

The migration crisis at the border between the European Union and Belarus has bee going on for several months, with thousands of migrants amassing in the area and trying to enter Europe via the Belarusian-Poland border. In response to illegal crossing attempts, Warsaw boosted security in the area, blaming Minsk for fueling the crisis in an effort to get back at Brussels for sanctions against the country. Belarus, for its part, maintains that it has no means to curb migrant flows to Europe due to the Western sanctions.

Since the beginning of the year, the Polish border guard has recorded approximately 40,000 attempts at illegal border crossing, a major increase compared to the last year. The monthly total grew from 3,500 in August to 7,700 in September and 17,400 in October, before decreasing to 8,900 in November.