Russia deploys paratroopers to Belarus border region amid fears of conflict

Russia is carrying out snap military drills in Belarus just a few miles from the Polish border today, as fears grow that Vladimir Putin is preparing for an invasion in eastern Europe.

Russia’s defence ministry said the unannounced drill would involve paratroopers from both countries dropping at the Gozhsky range, just 20 miles from where migrants are gathered at the Polish border, where they will practice capturing bridges as well as hunting down and destroying enemy patrols. 

Belarus said the drill was in response to the ‘build-up of military activity’ at the Polish border, where 15,000 troops have been stationed to help hold back the migrants, while Russia said it was to test the ‘combat readiness’ of its troops. Russia has previously flown nuclear-capable bombers over Belarus as a show-of-strength.

At the same time, Polish defence minister Mariusz Błaszczak revealed British engineers have been deployed to help strengthen the border defences amid warnings from all sides that the crisis risks spilling over into a conflict. 

Separately, Washington warned its European allies that Putin could be preparing for an invasion of Ukraine’s eastern borders – hundreds of miles from where the migrant crisis is playing out – after satellites spotted troops, tanks and artillery pieces massing there. 

Ukraine – which has been fighting a proxy-war against Russian-backed separatists in its eastern regions for years – has moved 8,500 more troops to the border in response. 

Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s spokesman, denounced what he called ‘increased provocations’ near Russia’s borders today saying that Russia ‘can’t stay indifferent to that; we must be on our guard.’ 

‘We take measures to ensure our security when opponents take defiant action near our borders,’ Peskov added.

American intelligence sources have briefed their European counterparts of a possible Kremlin military operation in Ukraine’s east to annex territory similar to the 2014 annexation of the Crimean peninsula. 

The US has refused to share exactly what intel it has of an imminent attack, but the warning comes after satellite images revealed a build-up of tens of thousands of Russian troops, tanks and artillery pieces close to the border. 

Russia and Belarus said paratroopers from both countries had been involved in joint drills in Gozhsky today, located just 20 miles from the Polish border where migrants are trying to cross

The Belarusian defence ministry said the troops practiced capturing bridges, hunting down and destroying targets, and defeating enemy patrols during the drill to ‘test combat readiness’

The surprise training mission came as it was revealed British military engineers are now at the border to strengthen the defences, amid warnings from all sides that the situation risks spilling over into armed conflict

Poland has deployed some 15,000 troops to its eastern border where they have spent much of this week trying to hold back thousands of migrants that Lukashenko’s regime is accused of forcing into the region

Poland, along with the leaders of nearby Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, has been warning that the crisis has the potential to spill over into a full-blown conflict

Polish military police stand guard at the border with Belarus, just yards from where thousands of migrants are camped alongside Belarusian troops who they accuse of trying to provoke a confrontation

The EU accuses Belarus dictator Alexander Lukashenko of forcing migrants to make illegal crossings into Poland in a cynical attempt to destabilise the bloc using vulnerable people as his weapon. 

On Thursday, Lukashenko himself warned of the risk of a conflict and accused armed groups in the Donbas region of Ukraine of trying to ship weapons to the migrants on the Polish border in order to spark fighting. 

‘They are Kurds, and the Kurds are militant,’ he said according to Polish newspaper Wyborcza. ‘When Poles beat them, cut them, torment them, etc., they become desperate. One rifle, one gun, and armed conflict is ready.’

Lukashenko has also threatened to cut off natural gas supplies running from Russia and through his country into Europe – though that threat was angrily slapped down by Moscow today.

Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s spokesman, said Lukashenko had not coordinated with Moscow before making the remark and added that Russian pledged to fulfil gas contracts are ‘beyond doubt’. 

It came after Lukashenko spoke out at a meeting of government officials on Thursday, musing: ‘We are heating Europe and they are threatening us… What if we cut off their natural gas? 

‘I would recommend the Polish and Lithuanian authorities to think before they speak up.’

Russia’s Yamal-Europe pipeline runs through Belarus and into Poland, representing about 20 per cent of the country’s total gas-carrying capacity into Europe.

The continent relies on natural gas for around a quarter of its energy needs, more than half of which is piped in from Russia – which sits on top of the world’s largest gas reserves.

Just weeks ago, European leaders were trying to negotiate with Russia to increase supplies as stockpiles of gas ran low due to surging demand as economies reopen post-Covid.

The EU accused Putin of throttling the flow of gas as a political bargaining tool to try and get a new gas pipeline – the multi-billion dollar Nord Stream 2 – opened. He denied the allegations.

Concerns about Russian troops on Ukraine’s border have been ongoing since at least April this year, when Putin moved around 100,000 soldiers, tanks and artillery pieces to the region without warning.

He later said the exercise was to test ‘military readiness’ and pulled some of the units back, but NATO warned that many of them had remained at the front even after the ‘exercise’ was over.

Russia then held more military drills around the Crimean peninsula and Ukraine’s eastern border over the summer, with yet more troops moved to the region.

The drills were closely watched by western powers with tensions almost spilling over into confrontation, including an episode in which Russian warships fired warning shots at a British vessel.

More troop and tank movements spotted via satellite in recent weeks spooked Washington even further, and prompted this week’s warning to European leaders about a confrontation. 

Washington’s warning comes as Putin masses his forces close to Ukrainian territory, with satellite images taken in the last few weeks showing large camps of tanks and artillery pieces in the region

Ukraine warns there are now some 90,000 Russian soldiers near its border, where it has been fighting a years-long insurgency in its eastern regions by Russian-backed separatists

Poland has moved some 15,000 troops to its border with Belarus to help contain a migrant crisis that the EU accuses Lukashenko of engineering, amid warnings that situation could also spill over into conflict

Polish troops have accused their Belarusian counterparts of inflaming tensions by firing blank rounds and pushing migrants through the border fence in an attempt to provoke a confrontation

Russia has been flying nuclear-capable bombers over Belarus – its close ally – in a show of strength amidst the crisis

Amid the tensions between Russia and Ukraine, Belarus is pressuring Europe over migrants and has threatened to cut off gas supplies to the continent by shutting the Yamal-Europe pipeline which runs through its territory (pictured) 

CIA Director Bill Burns even flew  to Moscow and have a rare one-on-one with President Vladimir Putin.

There he shared the US’s ‘serious’ concerns over the military buildup, sources told CNN. 

DailyMail.com reached out to the State Department for comment but was referred to comments made on Wednesday by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, when he echoed similar concerns in a press conference with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.

‘We’re concerned by reports of unusual Russian military activity near Ukraine. We’re monitoring the region very closely, as we always do, we’ll continue to consult closely as well with allies and partners on this issue,’ Blinken told reporters.

‘And as we’ve made clear, any escalatory or aggressive actions would be of great concern to the United States. We continue to support de-escalation in the region and diplomatic resolution to the conflict in eastern Ukraine.’

The report comes as fighting between Russian-backed groups and Ukrainian forces heats up. It began in 2014 after Russia illegally annexed the Crimean peninsula following a revolution that overthrew Ukraine’s former president who was widely seen as another mouthpiece of Putin’s. 

Ukraine’s Joint Forces Operation, a militarized force created in 2018 to defend the country in the ongoing conflict in the Donbas region, accused Russia of violating the ceasefire agreement five times over a 24-hour period on Monday. 

In a statement posted to Facebook the JFO accused Russia of ‘armed aggression,’ though the Kremlin has consistently denied involvement in the conflict. 

Tensions in Europe have been inflamed by a gas shortage, with Russian company Gazprom, the continent’s top energy supplier, having decreased its daily outflow in October in order to meet the needs of Putin’s domestic replenishment campaign. 

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Putin of intentionally engineering the gas crisis and urged western Europe to act swiftly with punishment.

But Gazprom increased its output to Europe earlier this week after Russia’ stockpile was deemed full. 

But the burgeoning refugee crisis on the border between Poland and Russia’s neighbor Belarus is threatening to further complicate the situation, which could grow more dire going into winter.

Much of Russia’s oil supply to Europe runs through Belarus and Poland. 

Over the last week western democracies have accused Belarus dictator Alexander Lukashenko of ‘weaponizing’ migrants from Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East by enabling them to fly to his country before seeking to break into the EU.

Devastating scenes have emerged from the region of desperate migrants getting brutal treatment from soldiers on both sides. Some even froze to death in the harsh Eastern European climate this time of year.

In response to threats of expanded sanctions, Lukashenko threatened to shut down the oil supply coming in from Russia to the rest of Europe.

The Biden administration is reportedly warning European allies of the possibility of an imminent attack by Russia on Ukraine, though Russia denied the accusations

Belarus denies engineering the crisis and has warned that armed groups in Ukraine are trying to give weapons to the migrants to spark a conflict (pictured, Belarusian troops marshal thousands of migrants near the border)

Migrants gather for getting humanitarian aid spread by Belarusian militaries at the camp at the Belarus-Polish border on November 11. Belarus’s strongman dictator threatened to choke off Europe’s gas supply from Russia if the west follows through on its promise of sanctions over the growing refugee crisis in the region

Russia has also been accused of helping engineer the crisis, which the West has called a ‘hybrid attack’

‘I would recommend the leadership of Poland, Lithuanians and other empty-headed people to think before speaking,’ he said. 

Among the countries vowing sanctions over the conflict are NATO and EU member states, as well as the US. 

Russia has also been accused of escalating the crisis, and the EU is reportedly in talks to target national airline Aeroflot as part of a new sanctions package.

The Kremlin said on Thursday that Russia had nothing to do with the migrant crisis on the Belarus-Poland border and rejected the suggestion as ‘crazy.’

It instead blamed the EU itself, claiming the international body was trying to ‘strangle’ Belarus. 

However, two supersonic Tu-22M3 nuclear bombers were seen performing ‘tasks of combat alert for air defense’ in support of the Belarus leader, the Russian defense ministry said in response to the rising tensions on the border.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told a joint news conference with his Belarusian counterpart Vladimir Makei that he hoped responsible Europeans would ‘not allow themselves to be drawn into a spiral that is fairly dangerous’. 

Lukashenko’s ‘weaponised migrants’ cheer as they smash through Polish border fence: Belarus airline STOPS flying more from Turkey in bid to halt build-up of refugees as Putin vows Europe’s gas will NOT be cut off 

Alexander Lukashenko’s ‘weaponised migrants’ cheered today as they smashed through a Polish border fence – only to be met by another barrier and more guards.

Video showed around a hundred refugees pouring across a highway and reaching a grassy knoll where they cheered defiantly at Polish riot police and troops stationed along a barbed wire fence.

Thousands of desperate migrants from the Middle East and North Africa have been ferried to the Belarus-Poland border this week by Lukashenko’s security forces, prompting Poland to deploy 15,000 troops along the line.

Video showed around a hundred refugees pouring across a highway at the border and reaching a grassy knoll where they cheered defiantly at Polish riot police and troops stationed along a barbed wire fence

Polish soldiers and riot police face off with migrants camped at the border on Friday

The EU accuses Lukashenko of luring the migrants to Belarus and the country’s Belavia airline has been forced to deny it is involved in trafficking the refugees as part of the ‘hybrid war.’

Belavia said citizens of Iraq, Syria and Yemen, would be blocked from flights as of Friday ‘in accordance with the decision of competent authorities in Turkey.

Amid the chaos on Europe’s doorstep, the White House last night warned Brussels to brace for a Russian invasion of neighbouring Ukraine.

The CIA briefed European officials about a possible Russian assault to capture territory in eastern Ukraine similar to the 2014 annexation of the Crimean peninsula.

As military hardware massed on Ukraine’s eastern front, the Kremlin today announced it was sending paratroopers to the Belarus-Poland frontier for snap drills just 30 miles from where the migrants are camped.

‘A unit of Russian paratroopers will practise a landing in an unknown territory in the Hrodna region of Belarus on November 12 as part of drills to inspect combat readiness of the paratrooper forces,’ the Russian defence ministry said.

Russian nuclear bombers were also flying over Belarus for a third day running as Putin remained firmly behind Lukashenko.

Kremlin-backed tyrant Lukashenko remains defiant in the face of increased sanctions from Brussels, threatening on Thursday to cut off Russian gas supplies to Europe from a major pipeline which runs through Belarus.

But Vladimir Putin doused that threat on Friday as Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov assured reporters that ‘the reliability of Russia as a [gas] supplier under current and future contracts is beyond doubt.’

Fears that Russia might invade Ukraine have been sparked by the build-up of tens of thousands of troops, tanks and artillery pieces close to the border, with satellite images revealing large camps of vehicles at Yelnya, Bryansk and Kursk.

Ukraine – which has been fighting a proxy-war against Russian-backed separatists in its eastern regions for years – has moved 8,500 more troops to the border in response.

A group of migrants gathered at the border on Friday. Belarusian soldiers can be seen amongst them while Polish border guards stand on the other side of the fence

Migrants are camped right beside a barbed wire barrier which has been erected along the Polish frontier with Belarus

Polish soldiers stand on parade next to a line of armoured cars and trucks as they keep guard against the migrants at the border 

Meanwhile, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia have also been warning of the risk of conflict between Belarus – a close ally of Moscow – and Poland amid a migrant crisis on their shared border.

On Thursday, Lukashenko warned of the risk of a conflict and accused armed groups in the Donbas region of Ukraine of trying to ship weapons to the migrants on the Polish border in order to spark fighting.

‘They are Kurds, and the Kurds are militant,’ he said according to Polish newspaper Wyborcza. ‘When Poles beat them, cut them, torment them, etc., they become desperate. One rifle, one gun, and armed conflict is ready.’

European countries and the US condemned Belarus Thursday following an emergency meeting at the UN Security Council.

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has urged the EU to open diplomatic talks with Belarus to resolve the situation over some 4,000 migrants camped on the Polish border with Belarus in freezing temperatures.

Poland is refusing to allow the migrants to cross, accusing Minsk of luring them to Belarus to send across the border in revenge for sanctions.

After an emergency meeting at the UN Security Council on the crisis the US and European delegations condemned ‘the orchestrated instrumentalization of human beings whose lives and wellbeing have been put in danger for political purposes by Belarus.’

Minsk is aiming at ‘destabilizing neighboring countries and the European Union’s external border and diverting attention away from its own increasing human rights violations,’ they said in a joint statement.

The statement made no mention of Belarus ally Russia, which before the meeting rejected western allegations that it was working in conjunction with Minsk to send the migrants over the EU’s eastern border into Poland.

And in his second phone call with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in as many days, Putin ‘spoke in favour of restoring contacts between EU states and Belarus in order to resolve this problem,’ the Kremlin said in a statement.

The EU has so far refused any direct contacts with Belarus’s strongman Alexander Lukashenko, who on Thursday warned that any new sanctions could see Minsk cut off natural gas transit to Europe.

The bloc severed contacts with Lukashenko and imposed sanctions after a heavy crackdown on the opposition following a disputed presidential election last year.

The EU is expected to decide next week to impose new sanctions on Belarus for human trafficking because of the migrant crisis.