MOSCOW, July 10. /TASS/. The Polish Army will increase the deployment of troops on the border with Russia and Belarus to 17,000 as part of Operation Safe Podlasie, Polish Deputy Defense Minister Pawel Bejda told reporters.

"As many as 8,000 troops will be involved in a border control mission, and 9,000 reserve troops will be deployed too," Bejda told a press conference on the implementation of the East Shield project broadcast by TVP Info.

Reserve troops will have to be redeployed to the border within 48 hours should a threat arise, the senior Polish military official explained.

Operation Safe Podlasie envisaging a six-month border control mission for servicemen with two months of training in advance will kick off on August 1.

Currently, 6,000 Polish soldiers and officers are undergoing military service in the country's east.