Why tensions have been growing along NATO’s eastern border with Belarus

By MONIKA SCISLOWSKA and YURAS KARMANAU
Associated Press

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland is deploying thousands of troops to its border with pro-Russian Belarus, calling it a deterrent move as tensions between the neighbors ratchet up. Officials in Belarus have been making hostile comments about Poland, a European Union and NATO member. Recently two Belarusian military helicopters violated Poland’s airspace in a move seen by Warsaw as a provocation. Belarus has also been pushing unauthorized migrants into Poland, is hosting Russian mercenaries and has held military exercise close to Poland’s border. Poland is supporting Ukraine in its war against Russia’s aggression and is insulating the border with Belarus, and with Russia, as a deterrent.