MOSCOW, July 17. /TASS/. Warsaw will kick off a new operation involving 17,000 troops to protect the border with Belarus, Polish National Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz told reporters.
"Starting on August 1, a new mission will take effect, as two previous operations will wrap up, one a training and the other on border protection. The unified operation codenamed Safe Podlasie, in which up to 17,000 service members will take part, is to be created," the minister said at a press conference, broadcast by the TVP Info television channel.
The Polish Armed Forces’ 18th Mechanized Division will be in charge of the operation. Kosiniak-Kamysz added that the troop numbers on the Polish-Belarusian border may even be increased further at the request of the Border Guard and the Interior Ministry.
Currently, 6,000 Polish soldiers as well as 1,500 border guards and police officers are serving at the Polish-Belarusian border. In addition, 200 officers of the military gendarmerie are assisting the Border Guard. The Polish Defense Ministry also announced that a border guard unit will be set up within the Territorial Defense Force.