Poland sends GROM special forces to the Kaliningrad border

Poland has deployed GROM special forces, additional border guards and counterterrorism police to its border with Russia’s Kaliningrad region after border guards noticed unusual movement of people there overnight on Tuesday. According to Prime Minister Donald Tusk, the provocation was prevented.

What happened at the border overnight

Polskie Radio 24 reports that Polish security forces have stepped up border protection in response to the threat of sabotage. Reinforcements were sent to the Podlaskie and Warmian-Masurian voivodeships. They include operators from the GROM special unit, extra Border Guard officers and police counterterrorism units.

Tusk said he received information about what was happening sometime after midnight: people with powerful flashlights were moving along the border. “We very quickly mobilized the necessary forces and resources in the area, and we managed to prevent the provocation,” the prime minister said.

He added that NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR), Alexus Grynkewich, had also warned Poland of a possible provocation on the border with the Kaliningrad region.

Who are the “Black Russians”

According to Polskie Radio 24, the events may be linked to a group calling itself the “Black Russians.” The station ties it to the sabotage that took place in October on the border with Latvia. Latvian authorities reported that armed masked men helped about two dozen migrants cross from Belarus into Latvia, attacked soldiers, damaged electrical equipment on the border fence and stole cameras.

After those events, the radio station notes, threats began to appear on Russian channels saying that the “Black Russians” intend to carry out new acts of sabotage against NATO countries. Radio 24 suggests the group was created by Russian and Belarusian intelligence services specializing in hybrid operations, but there is no official confirmation of this link so far.

The “little green men” have turned black

Belarusian journalist Dmitry Halko, who lives in Poland, said earlier that this is most likely a proxy structure designed to cover for certain actions and to take the blame for various incidents, such as sabotage on borders. According to him, if necessary, official Moscow will say: “We have nothing to do with it; these are active citizens expressing their views.”

Halko compares them to the very “little green men” cited by Russian President Vladimir Putin during the annexation of Crimea. “They were green, and now they’ve turned black. They will simply be a very convenient cover for anything,” the journalist concluded.

Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz