At Germany's eastern border, illegal entries have increased sharply in recent months. In March, the Federal Police detected 800 of these border crossings in Brandenburg and Berlin alone, compared to 605 in the same month last year. The other german-Polish sections and, to a much lesser extent, the german-Czech border were also affected. In March alone, for example, 1556 migrants crossed Germany's eastern border without permission.

Gerhard Gnauck

Political correspondent for Poland, Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, based in Warsaw.

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These figures are far below the peak of such entries at the eastern border in October 2021. At that time, the ruler of Belarus, Alexandr Lukashenko, had taken seriously after public announcements that migrants to the EU were "unstoppable". Its authorities not only made it easier for people, especially from the region from Turkey to Afghanistan, to enter the country by plane and then further by land, but in many cases even drove them across the border in the border area with Poland and Lithuania under threat of violence.

Poland's border guard has already arrested at least 300 smugglers or other people who helped migrants enter or continue their journey this year. However, unauthorized entries at Germany's eastern border accounted for only about a quarter of all such entries into Germany in March. However, the Polish authorities expect a further increase in migration in the coming months, not only because of the time of year, but also because of a possible return of Lukashenko to an organized promotion of migration as in 2021.

In the meantime, Poland has erected a 186.5-metre-high, massive metal fence with appropriate early warning technology over a length of about 50 kilometres on the easier-to-reach sections of the border with Belarus. The equivalent of about 350 million euros was spent on this. But the smugglers have also refined their means. According to Warsaw, about 80 people have crossed the eastern border every day in May. Most of them were sent back or arrested, which is not clear from the reports. The migrants came not only from the known countries of origin, but also from African countries.

In April, Poland's Interior Minister Mariusz Kamiński announced that he would erect a complete "electronic barrier" with 199,3000 video cameras on the <>-kilometer border with Russia's Kaliningrad region by autumn. So far, no significant influx of migrants has been registered there. The minister said that Poland's eastern border "will be excellently prepared" for any illegal activity related to crisis situations. The Baltic states have also begun to build barriers.