English Section

Radio Poland puts spotlight on Belarus border crisis

25.11.2021 09:30
Public broadcaster Polish Radio has launched special English-language coverage of the migrant crisis on the Polish-Belarusian border, entitled "Focus on the Border."
Photo:
Photo:twitter.com/SztabGenWP

Unveiled on Thursday, the service aims to reach English-speaking audiences with analysis of the causes and effects of the migrant crisis, Polish Radio's IAR news agency reported.

With fresh reporting provided every two days, listeners will hear a variety perspectives on the crisis, with a particular focus on those living in the border zone and people who protect the frontier on the eastern edges of the European Union and NATO.

Overseen by Polish Radio's English-language channel, Radio Poland, the coverage ranges from interviews with the local population and human rights lawyers to reports from night-time border patrols and collections held for the benefit of hospitalised migrants.

The Poland-Belarus border The Poland-Belarus border. Photo courtesy of the 16th Mechanized Division of the Polish Army

The director of Radio Poland, Andrzej Rybałt, said Focus on the Border would provide credible information about what is happening in the frontier zone between Poland and Belarus.  

He added that the service's current format, based on English-language reporting, could be extended in the future to include other languages.

Im polnisch-weißrussischen Grenzgebiet gilt bis zum 2. Dezember der Ausnahmezustand. "Focus on the Border": Polish Radio has launched special coverage of the Belarus border crisis for English-speaking audiences. Image: Polskie Radio

Focus on the Border is part of the core mission of Polish Radio's foreign-language programming, which includes combating Russian and Belarusian propaganda, according to executives.

Moscow and Minsk are seeking to convince foreign audiences that the events on the EU's eastern frontier are an ordinary migration crisis rather than a deliberate hybrid attack designed to destabilise the bloc, the IAR news agency reported.

Russia and Belarus are also working to undermine Poland's efforts to bring all EU members together in the face of the border crisis, officials have warned.

Photo: Photo: twitter.com/Straz_Graniczna

Radio Poland's Focus on the Border aims to help create a counterweight to Russian President Vladimir Putin's and Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko's propaganda machine, executives also said.

Reporting will be available at the polskieradio.pl website and on Polish Radio's YouTube channel.

(pm/gs)

Source: IAR