General Mikhailov: Polish border guards have no options but to defend the border , including, if necessary, and by force, they have no other options, said retired FSB Major General Alexander Mikhailov. In a conversation with Lenta.ru, he added that it is difficult to unequivocally assess the likelihood of shooting at the moment, since a political decision must be made.
A large group of migrants from the Belarusian side gathers at the border crossing, probably preparing for storming the Belarusian-Polish border. The Polish side warned that, in the event of illegal border crossing, it will be forced to use force.
According to the letter of the law
Mikhailov noted that Poland was obliged to warn refugees about the possibility of such a solution to the situation. According to him, according to the law on the protection of the state border, border guards are obliged to use force.
“If the border guards were given the command to let the refugees pass, they would instantly do it. But the Polish side does not agree to weaken the regime, therefore employees will be obliged to perform the functions provided for by law. In this situation, we are trying to maneuver between humanism and the law, but Poland confidently sided with the latter and rightly believes that no one has the right to cross its border, ”said the military expert.
He is confident that the situation will be resolved in In one way or another, only a political decision is capable, the border services will in any case only carry out the order – nothing depends on them, as on the subject of the situation.
“The border guards cannot take responsibility for moving across the border. Now everything depends on how the European Union reacts to what is happening, so the situation is quite difficult: border guards must prevent illegal border crossing, nevertheless, if they use force, they will certainly be convicted. The problem is that they simply have no other options, “Mikhailov concluded.
From the beginning of 2021, people began to flock to the border of Belarus with Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. The crisis escalated sharply on November 8 after several thousand people approached the Polish border from the Belarusian side. They do not leave the border zone, some of them tried to enter the territory of Poland, breaking the barbed wire fence.