Putin says Ukraine has become a “tool” of the United States.

Location of the Russian territory of Kaliningrad.

Krzysztof Sobolevsky, general secretary of Poland’s ruling Law and Justice party, said during a radio interview on Tuesday that Poland is considering building “fortifications” along its border with the Russian exclave in Kaliningrad.

“We will have to reinforce our forces in this part of the border [con Kaliningrado]. In addition, we will consider the possibility of building more border fortifications similar to those currently in the Polish-Belarusian section of the border,” Sobolevsky told Polsky Public Radio, when asked about the possibility of Russia sending“ refugees from Asia and Africa ”to Poland via Kaliningrad.

Located between Poland and Lithuania, Kaliningrad is a Russian enclave that was captured by Soviet forces from Nazi Germany in 1945 and became a Soviet territory as a result of the Potsdam Agreement.

It is the westernmost territory of Russia and the only part of the country surrounded by the European Union.

In September, Russian state media TASS reported that Kaliningrad was adopting an “open skies” policy, in order to “expand the region’s aviation geography and attract new airlines” from the Middle East and Asia, leading PiS politicians to return to nationalist arguments. On the possibility of Moscow using immigrants as a tool of “hybrid warfare”.

Previous migration crises in Poland: In 2021, Warsaw declared a state of emergency after tens of thousands of migrants tried to use the Bruzgi-Kuznica border crossing to travel from Belarus.

The migrants – mostly from the Middle East and Asia – have been stranded on the Belarusian side of the border for weeks, enduring frigid weather and a lack of food and medical care.

Western leaders have accused the regime of President Alexander Lukashenko of fabricating a migrant crisis at the European Union’s eastern border in retaliation for sanctions for human rights abuses.

Minsk has repeatedly denied these allegations, blaming the West for the crossings and accusing it of mistreating migrants. Russia – which is Belarus’ largest political and economic partner – at the time defended President Lukashenko’s management of the border crisis, although he also denied his involvement.

Laura Smith Spark, Antonia Mortensen and Anna Chernova contributed reporting.