Jens Asbjørn Bøgen
Counterterrorism units, military personnel, border guards and other law enforcement units have been dispatched.
Russia’s war in Ukraine is not being called a war in Russia.
Instead, the Kremlin has dubbed the invasion “the special military operation”, in an attempt to disguise the full-scale war as a minor military operation.
And now Poland is launching its own special operation – but it is not a disguised full-scale invasion, and it is not technically a military operation either.
Boots on the border
Polish authorities rushed elite counterterrorism units straight to the country’s northeastern frontier. The deployment followed urgent tips warning of potential armed incursions from Russia’s Kaliningrad exclave, according to Polish broadcaster RMF24.
Armed police and military patrols are now blanketing country roads across the Warmian-Masurian and Podlaskie regions.
Late last week, military intelligence sounded the alarm. Allied Western agencies warned that hostile sabotage squads might try to breach border checkpoints in the coming days.
Nobody took the tip lightly. Kaliningrad sits wedged between Poland and Lithuania, serving as a heavily fortified Russian military exclave right on the Baltic Sea.
Warsaw moved fast. Police commanders established an emergency operations center at national headquarters to coordinate surveillance in real time. Officers from several Polish provinces joined regional commands in Olsztyn and Białystok to guard bridges, railways, and key power facilities.
Guarding against sabotage
Poland’s national police chief, Marek Boroń, confirmed the massive deployment to radio station RMF FM. “We are responsible for ensuring the safety of the citizens living there, as well as for facilities and any situations that may pose a threat to society,” he said.
He added that substantial security assets, including tactical command vehicles, are already operating across the targeted borderlands.
The worries are rooted in recent events. Boroń pointed directly to rising fears over hybrid warfare, cross-border crime, and covert operations orchestrated by eastern intelligence networks.
Back in September, suspected operatives tied to a Turkish gang allegedly acting for Russian handlers torched a Polish ground facility supporting Ukraine’s Starlink network.
Even so, authorities emphasize that the entire operation remains strictly preventive. No armed intruders have crossed into Polish territory, and no fresh sabotage incidents have occurred.
