Estonia Sends Soldiers to Help Poland Stop Illegal Migrants Breaking into EU

by Jack Montgomery

Estonia is sending soldiers to help Poland secure its border against an onslaught of Middle Eastern migrants attempting to break into the European Union via Alexander Lukashenko’s Belarus.

“In the past, they wanted just political support, but now they need practical help. As far as I know, only Britain has provided practical assistance to Poland so far,” said the Baltic state’s defence minister, Kalle Laanet, in reference to an agreement between the NATO allies to deploy an approximately 150-strong force of Royal Engineers to help maintain Polish border fortifications and road infrastructure in the crisis zone.

According to a report on the website of publicly-funded radio and television network Estonian Public Broadcasting (Eesti Rahvusringhääling, or ERR), the “practical help” the nation of roughly 1.3 million people is extending to Poland will include “a combat engineer platoon made up of both active-duty personnel and reservists, as well as a military police unit consisting of active-duty personnel and conscripts”.