Poland to employ 5,000 troops to assist checks on German border

The Polish military is set to provide 5,000 troops to support checks on the border with Germany and Lithuania, the general staff said on Friday.

Poland plans to temporarily introduce its own checks at the German frontier from Monday in response to Berlin's imposition of border controls.

Some Polish soldiers will be directly involved in border checks, while others are to take on "tasks related to command, logistics, training and general security of operations."

Poland's military has been helping the border guard for years to police the border with Belarus, which is equipped with a high fence and surveillance systems to make it more difficult for migrants to enter the EU irregularly.

Warsaw earlier said it expects checks on the German border to have a negative impact on traffic in the region.

"We are aware that there will be some delays at the border," government spokesman Adam Szłapka told the Onet.pl portal.

However, he said that the work of border guards will be organized to minimize inconvenience.

Germany has been carrying out random checks at the border with Poland since October 2023 to stop irregular migration.

German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt ordered more intensive border checks shortly after taking office in May. He also implemented a controversial measure for asylum seekers to be turned away at the border.

The German policy has become a hot-button issue in Poland. Representatives of the nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party accuse Prime Minister Donald Tusk's pro-European government of accepting large numbers of migrants from Germany.

Extremists from the Border Defence Movement have organized vigilante groups to patrol the border. The PiS and future president Karol Nawrocki, who is backed by the party, have praised the actions.

Government spokesman Szłapka contradicted the PiS politicians' claim that "hordes of migrants" are crossing the border, and said the situation was under control.

Germany's Interior Ministry says the federal police have turned back around 1,300 people at the German-Polish border since May 8. In one in 10 cases, an asylum application was made.