Avdonin explained what it means and how to respond to strengthening of Poland’s military component
Warsaw began to set up a new infantry division in the east of the country. Analyst of the Belarusian Institute for Strategic Studies (BISI) Aleksei Avdonin spoke about what this means for us and how Belarus should respond.
He stressed that the establishment of a new infantry division by Poland is a planned event.
“Poland has a strategy to increase the size of its armed forces to 300,000 people. The formation of the division takes place in the Podlasie Voivodeship. This is actually a direct contact with us. They will be armed with modern equipment: US Abrams tanks, South Korean K2 tanks, Krab and K9 self-propelled howitzers. Probably a month ago we saw photos of how the K9 self-propelled howitzers, which arrived from South Korea, were unloaded in the ports of Poland. By the way, South Korea and the defence companies of this country were ranked first in the supply of weapons to Eastern Europe. Of course, one must understand that tanks and self-propelled howitzers are not defensive in nature. This is an offensive weapon. The division whose formation we are discussing is not alone. The same mechanised divisions were established in the north and south of Poland. They are quite numerous and well-armed. The first mechanised division will consist of four brigades, each with four battalions. That is, the total number will reach approximately 8,000 people.”
The political scientist noted that the Polish Armed Forces are building up and conducting intensive training. Moreover, we must not forget that there are separate units of NATO forces on the territory of Poland.
“Of course, this group poses a direct threat to the Union State,” stated Avdonin. “How to respond? We are responding via our classic concept of defence within the framework of the Union State, which has been in force since the late 1990s, which envisages the possibility of responding to such challenges by creating a regional military group. We see how intensively the co-ordination of the divisions of Belarus and Russia is going on. Of course, this causes discontent and impatience from the collective West, because it violates its plans to control Eastern Europe. The events of 2020 were focused on establishing political, economic, social, and military control over our territory. They failed. So, now the strengthening of our military, defence component, the work of our special services does not allow the West to claim dominance.”
Moreover, the BISI analyst drew attention to one more, perhaps not so obvious, but very important aspect, “Germany, France and Italy don’t like the military strengthening of Poland, because these countries have always considered Poland as a direct competitor on the political and military map of Europe. Therefore, we see strong disagreements in NATO structures due to the policy of the United States and Great Britain to strengthen the military component of Poland. Europe only seems to be united and monolithic. In fact, they have a huge number of claims towards each other: territorial and economic. An example is the topic of Warsaw’s demands for reparations from Berlin. I believe that we will see the new borders of these European states, for which they will fight. It is highly likely that in the future they will have other things to worry about rather than the Union State. And all the forces and means that are now filling Poland will be directed inside Europe. The most important thing for us is that any of their plans, sick ideas are not implemented on our territory. To do this, we are strengthening the group and conducting exercises.”
