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Polish troops line the barbed wire fence keeping out refugees on the country's border with Belarus
THE European Union slapped further sanctions on Belarus today as Poland deployed 15,000 soldiers to the border to keep out refugees.
The Polish troops reinforce legions of border guards and police who have been accused of illegal pushbacks — forcing asylum-seekers who make it to Polish territory back into Belarus, in some cases across barbed wire, causing serious injuries.
Other European countries have despatched troops to the border, including Britain, which sent 10 soldiers in a gesture of support for the Polish crackdown.
MARK HAZELDEN criticises the Western narrative that the incident was an escalation of Russia’s confrontation with the West, given that Belarus, a Russian ally, warned Poland of off-course drones, and the drones were unarmed, cheap wooden decoys