"We are fixing the barrier on the border between Poland and Belarus, we are strengthening it," Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said in an interview with the private radio station Zet. "The expenditure for this purpose is the highest in [Poland's] history," the minister stressed. Kosiniak-Kamysz added that the increased presence of Polish and allied forces in areas near the border is also helping to protect the eastern border of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) and the European Union (EU). This presence has been increased since Russia's aggression against Ukraine in February 2022. The Polish minister reiterated that Belarus and Russia orchestrated a wave of irregular migration to Poland, which peaked in 2021/2022, with the aim of destabilizing Poland, a Ukrainian ally, and the EU. At the time, Poland, Lithuania and other Baltic nations accused the government of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko of sending migrants across their borders, which are also the EU's external border, in response to sanctions imposed after the 2021 presidential elections in that country - considered fraudulent by the West - and the harsh crackdown on Belarusian protesters. The influx was largely contained, mainly due to the barrier that Poland completed last year, but some illegal crossings continue. Kosiniak-Kamysz stressed that the barrier serves as a broader defense measure in the face of Russia's war in Ukraine, which borders Poland, and advocated the construction of a line of 'bunkers', trenches and defensive ditches by Poland along that border and the one with the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad. Read Also: Polish judge who requested asylum in Belarus learned of "confidential" data (Portuguese version)