Tusk, von der Leyen defy security warnings during visit to Polish-Belarus border

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk revealed that security services had advised him to cancel a joint visit with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to the Polish-Belarusian border.

At the end of their joint press statement, Tusk admitted that as he and von der Leyen were heading to the location of the press conference, they received information and a recommendation from security services to abandon or change the venue because “Belarusian soldiers with rifles had appeared,” Caliber.Az reports via Polish media.

“So I asked the President what she thought about it. Was she ready to take part in this conference at this place? And I heard the words I wanted to hear, and for us here in Poland they were obvious: no concessions, no one will intimidate or disturb us here,” the prime minister said.

“We are also here to show true European determination,” he added.

For her part, von der Leyen stated that she had come to express Europe’s full solidarity with Poland as a frontline country.

“For many years, you and the Polish people have faced deliberate and cynical hybrid attacks. I would like to stress that Europe stands side by side with you in every possible case,” she said.

At the border post in Krynki, Prime Minister Donald Tusk and the EC President took part in a briefing with commanders of the Border Guard and the army — services deployed to protect the Polish-Belarusian border, where hybrid actions and migration pressure, instigated by Belarus and Russia, have been taking place for several years.

In the Podlaskie Voivodeship, a 5.5-meter-high steel fence has been erected along 186 km of the border with Belarus, complemented by an electronic barrier covering 206 km of the border, including river sections. In the Lublin Voivodeship, along the Bug River, an electronic barrier stretches for 171 km.

According to a communiqué from the Prime Minister’s Office, in addition to defence and security on the EU’s eastern border, talks in Krynki also focused on the SAFE preferential credit program, which is part of Europe’s rearmament plan in response, among other things, to Russia’s growing military potential.

After the briefing with security officials, Donald Tusk and Ursula von der Leyen inspected the site where elements for the construction of the “Eastern Shield” are stored, as well as the upgraded steel barrier on the border.

By Khagan Isayev