Polish government to ask president to extend state of emergency on Belarus border

FILE PHOTO: Polish soldiers build a fence on the border between Poland and Belarus near the village of Nomiki, Poland August 26, 2021. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel/File Photo

WARSAW (Reuters) - The Polish government will ask the president to extend a state of emergency on the Belarus border by 60 days, a spokesman said on Tuesday, due to a surge in migration that Warsaw blames on Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.

Poland and fellow European Union states Lithuania and Latvia have reported sharp increases in migrants from countries such as Afghanistan and Iraq trying to cross their borders, in what Brussels and Warsaw say is a form of hybrid warfare designed to put pressure on the bloc over sanctions it imposed on Minsk.